•Happy Holidays! I was wondering if someone can tell me the best way to remove the white powder on comb leads. The powder is light and not heavy. The box still sounds nice, but the leads have dropped some white powder. Any recommendations on removing the powder and stopping it from recurring again w...

•Hello Rick, This tip was given to me by the late Ralph Heintz, one of the best musical box restorers for many years. I have used it successfully on my Reginaphone, which had a fair amount of the white powder on the leads when I bought it. The product to use is TSI 301 lubricant from http://www.tsi3...

•I was recently referred to a very interesting article on lead corrosion which could hold a few answers to lead corrosion in instruments (piano key leads) or music boxes: Lead Corrosion in Exhibition Ship Models http://www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/carderock/pub/cnsm/lead/lead_01.aspx It appears that the...

•Hi All; How does one remove the lead tubing from the Ampico tracker bar? I have to replace it as most of the tubing is bubbling and badly oxidizing. Thank you. Dale Abrams

•When I removed the lead tubing from my Ampico tracker bar, I was told to take a box cutter knife and slit the side of the lead tubing and then give a twist to the tubing and it should usually come off. You may have to put a screwdriver in the slit to open it a bit more. The old lead tubing came off...

•Hi All, Just want to give a big thanks to the MMD Archives! I needed to remove PVC-E glue from an Ampico play-reroll pneumatic set so I used hydrogen peroxide following advice in the Archives. The peroxide turned the glue into a white residue which could then be scraped off. It still was not someth...

•Hi All, I need to "drop my drawer" -- the Ampico drawer, that is. I am going to improve the ease with which the roll tracking rod (which slides across behind the spool box) slides back and forth --- to hopefully achieve more sensitive tracking of rolls --- and I need to lower the drawer to get to i...

•For everyone who uses PVC-E and Bilon, I have to ask, what is your method of removing it and cleaning the wood for re-applying new fabrics to clean wood? Have you done it and did it last 30 years? I have redone two pianos that were restored in the 1980s, one with red Bilon and one with purple Bilon...

•I would like to point out that PVC-E glue is not watered down tacky glue but actually a very strong glue. I use it for gluing plastics to wood. One example is the pick guard on a guitar. It works better than the original glue that the manufacturer uses. It is great for gluing synthetic cloths to wo...

•I have found PVC-e glue to be easy to remove. It does not penetrate very deeply and can be removed with gentle scraping with a razor blade. In my opinion this produces less damage to the wood than sanding hide glue or other methods of removing it. Other white glues can be difficult. If you are usin...

•After ripping out the central portion of the pneumatic cloth (and whatever comes off the wooden edges), lay the pneumatics, in clamped together groups, on their sides on damp paper towels on plate glass. When the water has softened the glue enough, scrape off the glue and remaining cloth with razor...

•To remove PVC-E glue, hydrogen peroxide breaks down the glue. I used to purchase PVC-E glue directly from National Casein in Chicago, but the minimum purchase is two gallons, so now I purchase it from Schaff Piano Supply. If ordering from Schaff or another business in a northern climate, do not ord...

•PVC-E is just as easy as hide glue to remove from wood. First off, I'm not advocating that PVC-E should replace hide glue or fish glue, etc., as these are very much time-honored and historically accurate. Hide glue is more reversible but only because more people know how to go about removing it. Oc...

•I have developed a process for removing vertigris from Steinway actions. I haven't had a re-call ever in 18 years and will process an action shipped to me for $450. You pay shipping and insurance both ways in a package that can be re-used. This is far cheaper than replacing the whippens, hammer sha...

•How can I remove mold spores from old rolls? I realize this is a difficult question since paper can be damaged by any type of spray that would cut down on the mold. The piano rolls that have been in my home and played over the many, many years are fine, but I have acquired many through the years th...

•The let-off rail mounting brackets in my Melville Clark Apollo player piano are rusty and need to be stripped and re-plated. They appear to be threaded and glue was applied to the threads before inserting into the main action rail. To remove them my plan is to heat the main action rail with a hair ...

•Removing Melville Clark Let-off Rail Brackets. A method I have used with success on broken let-off screws with one end still sticking out might be adapted here. I turn the let-off rail so that the let-off screw is horizontal, then with a match or torch I heat the tip of the end sticking out red hot...

•Many years ago, I was called by the chairman of the music department of a local university. It seems there was a grand piano in the voice instructor's studio that needed attention. When I arrived, the voice instructor pointed to the drawer underneath the keyboard of a beautiful Mason and Hamlin gra...

•[ Ref. John A. Tuttle in 1402529 MMDigest, [ "Replacing Strings in 1970s Aeolian Player Piano" Hi All, I have just completed a web page to aid those who need to remove the piano action from a modern Aeolian player piano. While I (or someone else) might find that the page needs to be tweaked if I've...

•Hello MMD. I have moved on from the steamboat pump and now am worrying about the Temponamic control in my Steck upright D-A. I have begun to clean up the array of rods and levers that are on the underside of the keybed, and these of course include the Temponamic control. Ideally, I would like to ta...