•I am looking for Ampico-coded rolls of "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris". From the Ampico catalog I believe these would be: An American in Paris 10081 (jumbo) 7112/7113 I would prefer jumbo rolls over separate rolls to change out in the middle of the piece. Recuts are fine. It looks lik...

•I spent much of today tracking down the causes of various missed and/or softer notes in our Ampico B. I believe I have found the cause of most if not all, of the problems. Several tubes in the drawer were kinked or compressed by the covering panels or sharp corners. I've been looking at David Saul'...

•We must have a very early Ampico B model because the plate serial number indicates a 1928 Chickering. The stack is definitely a B, however, and not one of the hybrid pianos with an A stack and a B drawer. I've been trying to locate the subduing switch but I cannot find it. Did early B models not ha...

•After taking the covers off our Ampico B drawer I discovered that whoever rebuilt this instrument left the reroll brake drum and pad in place, though disconnected. The pad looks fairly new so it seems odd that it's not attached to the brake pneumatic and all tubing from the brake pneumatic to the r...

•Ken Marts asked about nickelodeons made in Las Vegas. The DeBence Museum has a Muzelle nickelodeon made by Resource West, Inc., on Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas. It is based on a Sojin (Daewoo) model DU131 piano which has a MUSE piano action made in Saito, Japan, and a stained glass upper front #1025 ...

•The DeBence Museum has a nice Cremona G with original case stained glass and carriage lamps. The piano with mandolin rail plays well. Unfortunately, in the past the all pipes were removed. Some or maybe all of the controlling valves are still in place. We want to restore it to original condition an...

•It is my understanding that the standard pitch of "A" at 440 Hz was established about 1930, and that before that many different values were in use. At DeBence we have been "guessing" what values to use on various machines. That sometimes has turned out poorly. Does anyone have a good listing of whi...

•The DeBence Museum has been given a Cremona C which we have repaired to playing condition, with one step left to go: the hammer butt hinge felt bushings are badly worn so that sometimes a hammer strikes an adjacent string. The hammers are not great but will do for now. We need to find someone who w...

•DeBence Museum has come into possession of eight playable music rolls which do not match up to any of our machines. They are 13-5/8 inches wide with slots cut 5/16" wide. They have two to six songs each and average about 50 feet long. They are for a machine of about 27 notes. Can anyone tell us wha...

•We have a roll for our Violano that is about half a hole off from the proper tracking position. How do I adjust the tracking on the Violano? Scotty Greene - DeBence Museum

•"Adopt an Instrument" Mickey Mills wrote at length about the issue of non-operating band organs at public venues. His proposal to restore and get them used again has my support, but there are a few issues. If the park has no money [invested] in the restoration they will not value it. The unfortunat...

•This may sound like a commercial, but the DeBence Museum is doing the best we can to keep band organs (and other mechanical music devices) available to the public. We have worked with two different amusement parks over the past 13 years. One of the organs is still in use, the other has been parked...

•We are repairing a Cremona "C" which was somewhat incomplete. We have finished the piano action and built a reproduction mandolin rail. The inside of the case shows screw holes indicating there may have been more items. There is a manual vent valve on the upper right corner, with nothing to connect...

•We are going over an Operators Piano Co. Coinola Midget and have the pump opened up. It is a four 'cylinder' pump in the square box style. It furnishes vacuum for the piano stack and pressure for the pipes. The output of the pressure side seems a little low, and upon examination there seem to be no...

•Thank for all the helpful comments and replies. I guess I did not do a very good job defining the reason for my original question. The Coinola in question has been operating well for some time. It uses a box pump originally providing both vacuum and pressure, but recently it showed signs of inadequ...

•We have been working on the piano action of our 1917 Coinola K. Without giving it much thought, when the action was repaired we tuned the piano to A=440. This was clearly a mistake! It was originally way flat for A=440, and now I know why. The pipes will not tune to A440, and moreover the metal pip...

•This project has turned out to be a real learning experience; the problem is I am not sure what I am learning! I am reasonably sure the hoses are not displaced by one note. The pipes are all stamped with the note they play. Using our tuner and blowing the metal pipes by mouth (and recognizing the f...

•The rule of thumb we used for underground mining machinery was up to 120 degrees F. you could hold your fingers on it for "a while." At 140 degrees F. you could just touch it for a second or two. Depending on which class of insulation you have anything, under 140 F. is acceptable for a motor. Some ...

•At the DeBence Museum we are still trying to get the Coinola operating properly. Can someone tell me what the pressure to properly blow the pipes should be? I have about five inches of water now, with it set as high as it will go. This pressure handles the metal pipes OK, but the wooden ones seem r...

•Since it is winter here and indoor temperatures at the museum are well below normal summer temperatures, does this make our pianos flat or sharp? Is there any reliable value for how much a 10 or 20 degree change in temperature changes the pitch of organ pipes? Scotty Greene - DeBence Museum Frankli...