•Hi all, The thread on tuning fires me up as usual. It seems to me that any artificial device, whether an electronic box, or a computer microphone feeding into software, has considerable limitations. I have tried one program, and from experience find that it can only tune one string at a time. This ...

•In MMD 981107 Reyah Carlson asked what and where the Themodist is: The Themodist (Aeolian's trademark), as well as other maker's similar systems like Solodant, is a device which causes most of the notes in a piece to play at a constant, low volume. Certain notes, usually the main melody line as wel...

•Dick Merchant wrote about using a noise canceling system for quieting a blower. It would work just fine on the noise coming out the exhaust. There are several companies that make just such a device for the air handling industry, and even one for a car (a bit pricey, though). There are also similar ...

•I am considering the purchase of a Peterson Autostrobe 490st to replace my aging but effective Conn Strobotuner. Peterson was kind enough to send me the manual, which contains tabular date on the different stretch profiles programmed into the device. My question is: have any of you MMD'ers compared...

•I thought that a discussion of the invention of the "Themeing" or accenting system should mention that E. M. Skinner held the patent for that device. Somewhere I have the patent drawings and specifics, but I have not located it. In that material, it may explain the relationship of Skinner to Mr. Cr...

•Dear Wolfgang and MMDers, A year or more ago, you inquired about a Mr. Christmas automated musical device in the form of a xylophone played by Disney characters. At that time several people remembered them but none seemed to be available. We are currently visiting Walt Disney World in Kissimmee, Fl...

•Hi All, The following stories are true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent! A Strange Mechanical Device Many years ago, on my way home from school I decided to cut through the old factory yard. For years people had illegally dumped their garbage there. One day I found a strange mec...

•Hi group, I'm very pleased to wish you all Happy Holidays. And to continue one of my favorite subjects: musical toys! Robbie Rhodes wrote in MMDigest 981226, "... this device was patent- ed long ago (probably in the 1930s), and licensed to Mattel Toys, by a man named Duncan." Mattel used this paten...

•Over the Christmas Holiday, I found and purchased an interesting old tracker bar pump in a local antique shop. Rather than the familiar "Kleernote" piston-type device, this unit is bellows operated. The bellows boards are of as-yet-undetermined wood, with what I'm calling a cherry finish (reddish, ...

•Re: The Telegraph, Binary Code and Music Rolls Joyce Brite's post on this subject reminds me of a device I saw demonstrated on UK TV a few years back. It was an 1830s version of (of all things) a fax machine! It used a pair of identical pendulums: one to send, the other to receive. A synchronising ...

•In reply to Dick Merchant's question in 990206 MMDigest about the Seeburg in home use format, I offer the following. I graduated from college in 1962. While there, my fraternity had such a device which played 45-rpm discs. When the double door wood cabinet was opened, the interior was obviously the...

•The Pianola Institute based in London has launched its web site, which is at: http://www.pianola-inst.ndirect.co.uk/ They invite comments and corrections. "Pianola" is construed halfway between the modern enthusiast's definition: - (with a small p) a foot-operated device for playing the piano * usi...

•This is not exactly mechanical music but there are several of you who work with MIDI and of course sound cards. I have an application for which it would be nice to use a 200 ohm dynamic microphone as an input device for a Creative AWE 64 sound card. Unfortunately, the gain at the microphone input i...

•Andy asked about recording pianos with a camcorder. I have some experience with this in my "doing the sound" and videotaping our church services for public access TV. Unfortunately, almost all camcorders (and VCR's) have an automatic recording level device in the audio circuitry. No matter what you...

•Hello all, hopefully somebody can help me out on this one. A few months back I purchased a deluxe auto unit for my 1914 George Steck Pianola. I had a piano tech install the device, but no matter what he did, could not get the auto rewind to pull far enough to engage into rewind. The problem is, tha...

•Hello again to all! This is a request for help on a part from a dif- ferent kind of mechanical music device made by Wurlitzer. I recently picked up a Model 2800 jukebox that I am restoring to add to my col- lection of things in my music room. It's missing a plastic switch bar, known as the "golden ...

•There is a small machine used to make decorative cloth cord which can also cover new electrical cord with woven material. Mike Kitner uses one in his restoration work, as do a few others. It's a neat little device which one occasionally sees in operation at steam rallies and the like. Another trick...

•As to Phil Dayson's question, I think those lines were done with the same kind of device they use for doing pinstriping on automobiles and wagons, only smaller. Its a very tiny roller mounted on a bottle. Brian Thornton Short Mountain Music Works 109 North Cannon Street Woodbury, TN 37190 Ph: (615)...

•Hello MMDers, Some of you might be interested to know that we are designing and building an automatic guitar. This device is based on a six-string electric guitar but it uses stepper motors to change the "finger position" for individual strings and to raise and lower individual picks. Picking is ac...

•We live in the city where Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) is headquartered, and have done a fair amount of work with them across the country. We ship high ticket clocks and musical devices cross-country from a myriad of locations on a continual basis. What we've learned specifically about MBE is that each fr...