•Since the MMD Archives did not bring up anything for front rail punchings, I'll ask if any of the readers know where one can obtain dense felt white front rail punchings. These take the blow when a piano key is struck, bring the key to a stop, and also determine the key dip. Soft green punchings ar...

•Several years ago I purchased the leftover supplies from a piano tuner who was retiring from the trade. In the supplies there were several packages of front rail felt punchings that were white rather than the normal green that is more common today. I do not recall if they were more dense, but I bel...

•What Bill Chapman is looking for are the Crescendo punchings that I have introduced to North America a few years ago. These punchings are made from felt, as opposed to felted cloth, made by the Wurzen felt company in Germany, a company which is the foremost producer of piano hammer felt. The Cresce...

•Hello all MMD-ers! Using Meccano parts I built a "Perforator Simplex," or punching machine for 20-note music rolls. Of course, some parts were to be machined from brass as the holes in the organ's tracker bar are not spaced at quarter-inch intervals. (In fact, the spacing is a curious fraction of m...

•Timothy Tikker sent us this link about a cute new serinette: http://www.random-good-stuff.com/2008/09/08/diy-twitter-organ/ It's a build-it-yourself kit to make a tiny organ of 8 whistles played directly by a paper strip with punched holes. Another description is at http://www.kilian-nakamura.com/c...

•As you can see and hear on YouTube, this bird organ or serinette is not absolutely convincing. The tremulous notes sound more like the quivering tone of a goat! Don't you think so? But a lot can't be expected from this little organ, since it has no bellows -- only a plastic piston running very free...

•If indeed Player Piano Co. closes because of Durrell's death, where would be a good place to go for pre-punched valve leathers? I'll certainly wait to see if the worst-case scenario concerning the closing takes place before shifting vendors. Not just simply because of my back-order, but because of ...

•Hello All, A reader of my blog wrote to ask if I could identify an instrument she saw on television. Alas, I am out of my depth here, but I am sure this will be an easy one for you. She writes: I just saw an unusual instrument in a documentary TV show, http://www.open2.net/paris/cityofdreams.html I...

•In response to Dug North's post: It sounds like the instrument that was being played was either an Organina Thibouville or a Coelophone Orchestre. Bowers' "Encyclopedia" describes these instruments on page 750. They were sold by the firm of Thibouville-Lamy, although the Coelophone was actually inv...

•In 090419 MMDigest (I just caught up reading the last month or so worth) Dug North asked about a book operated reed organ. Did it look anything like the Erman organ in the upper left photo at http://www.erman.ch/Produits2.html ? Musically, Ingmar Krause Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

•I am starting to rebuild an A-roll piano with a Simplex action stack. In each pneumatic the moveable valve button is faced with leather on each face. On the stem side there are two rubber cloth punchings, approximately 9/16" x 5/32", beneath the leather. Is there a source for these cloth punchings ...

•Hi all, In 2007 I bought a (manual) Star perforator for 88-note paper rolls. Unlike the Leabarjan, this perforator has 88 punches (plus one for the sustain pedal). I published some photos in "Musiques Mécaniques Vivantes" No. 76, October 2010. ("Musiques Mécaniques Vivantes" is the beautiful magazi...

•Hello MM lovers, I did a search for perforators for sale on here and I have seen others inquiring about this; has anyone successfully purchased one through here? I know there are a number of owners on here but does anyone know someone that would make one for order? Also, I am trying to find the pla...

•Hi, I'm not looking to spam the list, I just thought it might be of interest to those who work with the small 15-, 20- and 30-note punched paper strip music boxes: there is now a desktop version available of 'Music Box Composer', an app that was formerly only available on iOS and Android tablets an...

•Hi all, let me just say this -- I just came back last night from the Herschell Carrousel Museum in North Tonawanda New York. I went out to help them perforate band organ rolls, and it was great to see this done for my first time ever. The roll I punched is Style 165 roll No. 6724X, "T.R.T. Finale R...

•Hi Robbie, Jody and Matthew! I just did a show in Syracuse, New York, and talked with Robert Berkman of Pianola Enterprises. He used to work for QRS. I asked him if QRS was still punching rolls and he said there was one man there still punching them! I thought I saw somewhere that QRS was not punch...

•For sale: an organ book punching machine built by Terry Haughawout, including table, stencil/book copy equipment, jigs, fixtures, book press for making cardboard books and supplies, copy paper, cardboard, hinge material and more. Price $1800. Pictures sent on request. Located near Cleveland, Ohio. ...

•Greetings, everyone. A couple weeks ago, someone mentioned rolls they punched by hand. I would like to submit my hand-punched rolls list. These are faithful to the score as much as possible. 1. Khachaturian: Dance of the Rose Maidens from Gayane Ballet 2. Kabalevsky: Sonatina in C -- all 3 movement...

•It appears Keystone Music Roll Co., of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will soon resume piano roll production -- see the new video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvmh9cz2Rak Robbie Rhodes Etiwanda, California

•[ Ref. 220219 MMDigest, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvmh9cz2Rak ] If anything could convince newbies that mechanical music is boring, it is this video. If you have the time to record this please put an equal or better effort into editing. I love mechanical music and machines but it was a challe...