•Hello MMD. I'm well into rehinging my Steck striking pneumatics, following all the advice I got about two weeks ago. One piece of advice, offered by several respondents was: "Don't get glue on the outside of the fold in the hinge material, or the pneumatic may become hinge-bound." Well, I've largel...

•John Phillips asks about how to glue striking pneumatics in a way that the pneumatic doesn't become hinge-bound. The way I learned to glue them is just be careful not to apply too much glue (but just enough, though), and indeed glue the hinge side of the pneumatic while it's in closed position. I l...

•John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania asks: > Unless I become a virtuoso glue painter, how can I avoid getting > glue on the hinge during this last step? The last step in gluing up the key pneumatics is folding the pneumatic cloth over the hinge. I usually cover the three sides of the boards with the c...

•You could try taking some paper towel or a rag, fold that over the tip of a slot screw driver, then slide that through the area above the hinge to clean it out when glue gets in. Ideally this would get all the glue out, but a little bit will probably remain. It should not be enough to affect the hi...

•The pneumatic should be held closed for the hinge end glue to dry but there should be a spacer placed just inside the exhaust hole so that the boards do not put a sharp crease in the cloth which will accelerate deterioration. I believe this is mentioned in Art Reblitz's book. Don't place the scrap ...

•Hello MMD. In 1972 I bought my first pianola, an Aeolian Stroud. After a few months I dawned on me that it wasn't playing as well as it might and I took myself off to the local public library, in the forlorn hope that I might find a book on player pianos. To my great surprise I found a copy of "Pla...

•Simon Richens is having trouble with his singing bird bellows. I have viewed the video and it is clear that the reservoir is not opening far enough. This results in a low supply pressure and/or insufficient supply volume. It is not easy to see all details as the video is a bit blurred so I cannot s...

•Hello Simon, There are many shortcomings that yield the same results you have. Obviously, from looking at your YouTube video, the primary problem is a shortage of air in the reservoir section. Finding the air leak or leaks is a very challenging task. Almost every glue joint and valve are suspect an...

•Hello Simon. I reviewed your video on YouTube and immediately understood your problem. As two others have indicated, your bellows is not holding the air enough as indicated. It is also obvious from your video that the pumping vane is in fact pumping air into the reservoir. We have been covering bel...

•My name is Philip Brady, and I specialize in the repair and restoration of singing bird cages and bird boxes. I am hoping to locate someone who can do realistic re-feathering of these birds, from touch-up work to full re-feathering of the birds, in cages from 11" up to the life-size birds in the la...

•Dear all, For a project about "solitude", I asked my students to design a simple singing bird. As a first step, I would like them to experiment with the small slide whistle that can be found in a singing bird automaton. Therefore, I tried to find manufacturers of these whistles. The only manufactur...

•Hi, Dan: I have the book, "Mechanical Singing Bird Tabatieres" by Mayson, as well as many other out-of-print books available for sale. You can view the complete list on my web site at http://antiquemusicbox.us/ Best regards, Bill Wineburgh

•Hi, I'm interested in purchasing a singing bird box; 25th anniversary coming up! Thanks so much, Charlene Jandik jandiks@att.net.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

•Dear MMDs, A very fine singing bird in a gold snuffbox by Rochat will be auctioned in Paris, France, on Friday, November 27th, at 2 p.m. (Paris, France time), by Coutau-Begarie Auction House. Forgotten in a safe box for 60 years, it was revised recently and is in perfect original condition, since t...

•Hi Dave, Without seeing the bird (foot) and having specific details as to the size and configuration (shaping) of the existing foot, no one will be able to help you too much. It's kind of like calling an auto parts shop and saying you're looking for a radiator fan belt for your 1960's German motor ...

•I sold a wonderful antique singing bird box to a retired physician in the UK; I am based in the USA. Unfortunately, UK customs opened the box during inspection and disregarded my note explaining "never manually open or close the top lid with your fingers." As such, the bird and lid no longer rise a...

•Hey everyone, I bought a singing bird cage recently and tried to recover the bellows. It went well, but it's not working right. Is there anyone out there that does this kind of repair? I would send the whole thing to you for repair. Contact me at my email or phone number: 1-618-225-0528 Sincerely, ...

•Hi, I have just purchased a Karl Griesbaum singing bird box. The bird is damaged and needs renovation. I live in the UK; could you please point to a good renovator to do this work for me in the UK? Thank you. Kind regards, Chris McGrath, UK

•Hello, I have a German bird cage and I need to change the bellows paper. Do you sell this paper? Best regards, Valdemir Berner Brazil [ At http://www.lederfachhandel.de/portfolio-item/darmleder/ [ "Das Leder kann für 'Singing Bird Cages' verwendet werden! [ The leather can be used for 'Singing Bird...

•To Whom it may Concern: I have my grandmother's beautiful singing bird in a brass cage. I would now like my grandson to enjoy it but I fear the bellows needs repairing. I've been told it's difficult to find people to do these repairs. I'm hoping you can help me by leading me to the proper person. M...