•Since it became available, I've always used Scotch Magic Mending Tape, and I use it on the side of the roll away from the tracker bar. I first learned of Scotch Magic Mending Tape from a book restorer who did work for several libraries, so I figured that if it was good enough to use on valuable boo...

•I have a minor problem compared to those generally mentioned here. My beloved Hamilton piano (Baldwin's "school line" of uprights) has a marvelous sound and new keytops. It's nicely tuned at present. But (and I knew this when I bought it) the action needs some work. The hammer felts are hard and ca...

•I am concerned when anyone says price is "sometimes an indication of the quality of work." No one should believe this! I have had wonderful work done at less than 10% of what the scalpers charge, and terrible work done by those who charge top dollar and claim to be professional. That also goes for ...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I have purchased my first roller organ and it is in need of some repairs. I have looked at most web sites and information on the Internet but most of the repair info is for vacuum organs. At this time I have determined that mine is an earlier mod...

•[ Olie K. Teeter, Jr., wrote in 051007 MMDigest: > I can't find anything that tells me who made it or when. ... Congratulations -- these are fun little instruments. You need Todd Augsburger's book "Roller Organs". It will help you date the organ very closely. All were made by the same company in It...

•[ Olie K. Teeter, Jr., wrote in 051007 MMDigest: > I can't find anything that tells me who made it or when. ... Olie, There should be a significant amount of information about your new organ on my web site devoted to Roller Organs. To help you with identification, there are specific pictures at: ht...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I am the lucky owner of a family heirloom that I just received this week. The Olympia #5 is in mint condition. It had belonged to my grandparents and was played only at the holidays and when we would visit them in New York. My grandfather probabl...

•Hey all -- I need a little help and figured if anyone could help this would be the place. My piano is an old Aeolian upright (circa 1908, I believe). It has worked perfectly up until a motor crank-arm cracked and broke. So, first-off, I need two crank-arms. However, on top of that, I think one of t...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- Mike Morrey wanted to know how to adjust the sliders on a Aeolian wind motor [060112 MMDigest]. When I want to work on my Steck half-Duo-Art, out comes my copy of "Player Piano Servicing and Rebuilding," by Arthur Reblitz. This book has proved to...

•Hi All, I'm only writing this posting because I've encountered a few seriously bad air motors in the past year and all of them had been "rebuilt". While the cloth was in excellent shape, they all leaked like a sieve. Also, the task of selling the repair job to the customer was complicated by the fa...

•[ Ref. 060616 MMD, "Seek Piano Plate for Link Orchestrion"] > I'm told welding is not practical. Much to contrary belief, broken plates _can_ be repaired, and quite successfully. Beware if you attempt to install another piano into the Link case, for the alteration will be permanent and the authenti...

•The welding of cast iron is very much an art, and there are people who have surprising skill at it. They're not easy to find, and some persistence is necessary: you basically have to lug your afflicted plate from one welding or machining outfit to the next, searching out the grizzled old craftsman ...

•Glenn, This may be a long shot, but have you considered dismantling the piano and taking the plate to a foundry to be recast? The plate itself can be used as a pattern for a new one, although the foundry will have to do some "tricks" to make it work. (E.g., first fix the bowing, and then add materi...

•I have done a small amount of welding cast iron with success. I use an arc welder with a high frequency attachment. I have used a Eutectic Xuper 2240 rod and a Nickel-arc 99 rod I believe was made by Alloy Rods. I had a welder with a lot of cast iron experience tell me his secret was to keep poundi...

•This torch is by far the best to use for repair welding on most metals but is great for cast iron: http://www.cobratorches.com/ You may be able to contact them for some leads to restorers of car and airplane motors or steam/early engines. They all use the torch for cast iron repair. I have used it ...

•I'm sorry to hear about your problem with the broken Link piano plate. I have a Link E, serial no. 3448, so I know the plate style. Here are a couple of thoughts which may help you find a solution. There is an excellent article on piano plates and repairs on the Piano Technicians web site under Sam...

•Hi all, Kim Bunker here from playerpianos.com. Repairing a cast iron plate is next to impossible. The reason for this statement is cast iron piano plates until the introduction of the V-Pro process injecting plastic into the mold before releasing the iron by Yamaha. All piano manufacturers used wet...

•I find it fascinating that the repair of cast iron provokes such a divergence of opinion across a group of uniformly fine craftsmen. I have found this to be the case not only in piano work, but with the people who restore old machinery as well. It's always been controversial, apparently. I've got a...

•I have seen old photos of cast iron steam engines being repaired. The technique involved an asbestos tent and a charcoal fire to preheat the entire casting to around 500 degrees. Then the previously ground-out crack was brazed with an acetylene torch, peened, and allowed to cool _very_ slowly. I sa...

•Hey all! After I sent my last message regarding the crank arms [060112 MMDigest], my computer went south. So, I'm gonna try this again, and apologies for the duplicate! (Note the new email address, in case you did contact me before.) I'm looking for two crank-arms for an old Aeolian wind motor (fro...