•We want to buy Christmas music in the form of a Wurlitzer APP roll and a standard style "A" roll. Where can we find them? Scotty Greene - DeBence Museum Franklin, Pennsylvania

•We need some help. We are still working on our Cremona G and have a problem with the piano stack valves. The valve motion (or clearance when the valve is closed) is anywhere between 0.040" and 0.100". There must be an ideal distance and the range cannot be as wide as we now have. As I understand it...

•I suppose after 100 years you could not expect the original pump to be in good shape. We have started the rebuild process on what appears to be the original, untouched Cremona pump, and found a different approach than what we are used to. The outer layer of .030" thick tan motor cloth has stiffener...

•Thanks for all the advice from my question about the inner lining for a pressure pump. For those not familiar with a Cremona G, the pump supplies both vacuum and pressure. The one we are rebuilding is the original, and was still working fairly well except for one of the 4 sections. So the question ...

•Just started work on our Cremona J coin piano action stack and I found the valve stems were glued very thoroughly to the pouches, so that in removing them I tore up several of the pouches and damaged some others. On the Cremona G we just completed the stems were either not glued at all, depending o...

•This is a report and a "thank you" for all the people who have given us information and help in the repair of the DeBence Cremona G nickelodeon. We do not claim this as a restoration; some areas were not touched if they were working properly, and the case still needs some cosmetic work. Our intent ...

•In the Cremona air chest, the valve stem screws into the pouch, which is reinforced on both side with a stiff .020" thick material glued to the pouch. In the past I have always salvaged and reused this material, but in the present case it was badly mangled during the prior rebuild and must be repla...

•The restoration of the Cremona J is proceeding, but apparently the tambourine and castanets were removed at some point while things were being bypassed. We can reproduce them if someone can please send us some photos of originals so we know what to make and where to put them. Thanks for the help wh...

•We are playing an unknown "A" roll on our Cremona C which has the leader missing so we have no maker or number. However the songs are Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet Unknown When They Cut Down The Old Pine Tree The Old Gray Mare Home On The Range Hot Time In The Old Town No! No! A Thousand Times No Lit...

•The Cremona J restoration is coming along. The piano stack rebuild was completed, helped along by much useful information from MMD readers, and it functions well. Now I am trying to get the xylophone to work. The xylophone has not worked since the orchestrion came to us in 1995. It has obviously be...

•Along with a bunch of music rolls we found 5 paper rolls of carillon music for Schulmerich bells. They all look to be in good condition. Two are labeled as from the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, the others are not identified except as Christmas and Easter music. We cannot use them a...

•Donating to a museum? This way of passing on your collection item is not a bad plan, in spite of some of the recent posts. _But,_ if you want your collection preserved and available to the public, there are a few items that need to be considered before making a donation of machines or literature. 1...

•The DeBence Museum has a Mandolin Bass Format Music Box which over the years has become reluctant to start. Then for a while, if you flipped the speed control fan with your finger, it would play. Over time this became less reliable, and finally no matter what you do, it will not play. I am no music...

•The rebuild of our Cremona J is proceeding, but as an engineer I would like to know the original factory spec for vacuum. Expressed in inches of water gage, 10 inches plays the piano well, but some of the other functions like the soft pedal and coin shutoff do not fully operate. At 20 inches everyt...

•I think there is more interest from younger people than some of the recent letters have assumed. At the DeBence Museum we are able to get a grant each year which covers the cost of offering a free tour to all fourth grade students in the area. As an important part of that offer we pay for the bus t...

•I read with interest Lester Wolff's story about what Mike Kitner overheard ["Duo-Art at Asa Packer Mansion in Pennsylvania" in 160107 MMDigest]. I have had similar experiences but, while the first reaction is to grin, this is really a serious subject. There is a responsibility, as museum tour guide...

•Luke Myers wrote in 160203 MMDigest: > The reason is that the pneumatics on the early model have completely > unnecessary openings in the back, that should have never been there > in the first place! Craig Smith added in 160204 MMDigest: > It's very tempting to blame a design error when you can't f...

•Many of you will know that the DeBence museum Wurlitzer 153 has no façade with it. The story is that when at Idora Park it was behind a Bruder façade and nobody knows where the original façade went. We have been given a Style 153 center facade and are restoring it to decent, not fully original, con...

•I have been following this discussion, and as an engineer I note we have missed the necessary starting point. If you want to time a job you must first clearly define it. A couple responses have sort of addressed this point, but nobody has pointed out that we seem to be timing some very different jo...

•I just patched up an "A" roll with no front end leader left. I played it and recognized none of the songs which all seem to be rags. The inner end of roll says 469. Does anyone have a song list for A-roll number 469? Thanks for the help, Scotty Greene - DeBence Museum Franklin, Pennsylvania ...