•The 2013 video on QRS was very sobering. The factory looks utterly desolate, far from the glory days of J. Lawrence Cook and the most famous roll arrangers. The music roll factory may very well be on its last gasp. That room with the paper on rolls seems to be screaming for more workers. It reminds...

•Here is an update on how things are going with my player piano. I got new striker pneumatic cloth by way of my brother, Mark, who is also working with me on the project. I should have all the 82 pneumatics (I omitted the last three from either end) re-covered by next weekend, hopefully sooner. The ...

•This morning I cut off and ripped away all the old cloth from the reservoirs and exhausters of the original foot pump for my piano. Let me just say that that old cloth was _no good at all!_ But that's distraction from the main point. I had read about the dangers of leaf springs being removed from r...

•For Lee Munsick [160325 MMDigest], see "Jim Wells" at http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/W/wells.html I live close to where Jim Wells lived in Fairfax, Virginia, and I attended the last auction of his stuff [some time] later than 1977. (I believe there had been earlier auctions). Jim had a huge ...

•Hi MMD, We are now offering new hinge-top nickelodeon 10-tune roll boxes of white cardboard, 12 x 5 x 5 inches, sold in lots of five (5) for $14.00. Each shipment will include at least one (1) completely restored 88-note roll, my choice. Shipped by Media Mail at $5.00, add $1.00 shipping for each a...

•I too have Ampico B brake drums for sale. Mine are both aluminum, and include brass tipped set screws so as not to mar the shaft on which they are installed. Also an Allen wrench to install them is included. The price is $48 for both, shipping included. Tom Binnall Seattle, Washington, USA tomwa007...

•My thanks to all who came to my aid to locate a piano roll of "Marigold", composed by Billy Mayerl. I have now secured a copy, on it's way from Great Britain. My material cost to produce Ampico B brake drums runs about $8.00 per set, considering the grade of aluminum I'm using. I'll sell them for t...

•My 1919 Franklin Ampico has been missing the "roll adjusting rod" since I bought it in 1975. This is the basic Amphion upper guts that Ampico used in their uprights. This piano has been rigged to shift the tracking bar from the roll adjusting pneumatic instead of shifting the piano roll. After havi...

•I have not been able to find an appraiser, certified by a recognized organization, of reproducing pianos and rolls. Does anyone know of one? I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions any of you could offer. Thanks, Tom Sauter tlsauter@gmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply] ...

•For sale: Welte Style 2 orchestrion in excellent condition. A total restoration by Durward Center, the pre-eminent Welte restorer, was completed early 2016. Original pipes were refinished and re-tuned, all components were restored or rebuilt to original Welte specifications and the original case wa...

•This is a rundown of the most-encountered player actions that I would consider easy or hard, starting with 1 as the easiest to rebuild and going up from there to the hardest. 1. Cable Euphona Inner-Player 2. Aeolian, non-reproducing 3. Standard action 4. Gulbransen screwed stack 5. Steger 6. Wurlit...

•Hello everyone, I wonder if anyone has the key frame scale for a trumpet organ (monkey organ) by Heinrich Voigt Fabrik. This instrument has serial number 1332 and, as well as the usual pipes, it has 11 wooden trumpets. The keyframe has 37 keys spaced exactly 1/2-inch apart. The barrel plays 8 songs...

•This beautiful antique Aeolian baby grand reproducing player piano has the Duo-Art player mechanism. Dimensions: 56" wide, 60" long. This beautiful vintage baby grand piano has been in the family over 50 years, smoke free, air conditioned home. The Duo-Art reproducing electrical player mechanism is...

•Hi everyone, In January this year I posted some pictures of an unusual orchestrion here in New Zealand [160107 MMDigest]. After having a close look today I am certain it was built as a barrel orchestrion, with 36 piano notes, 12 glockenspiel notes, and perhaps a rank or two of pipes, and percussion...

•Hi everyone, A few weeks ago, on the 24th of May, I traveled to Partridge, Kansas, to obtain a working Aeolian stack and pump, with associated linkages and 10 piano rolls, all for the bargain price of $5. The stack has the initials "J.K." stamped near the stack vacuum supply. Is or was there a pian...

•For sale: Trueman keyless 21er from the UK, circa 2002, with bell and switchable glockenspiel. Light weight at about 40 pounds, has twenty wood Bourdon pipes with the nine front melody notes doubled, Berliner style cart, 44 choice music books, in excellent condition, images are attached. Located in...

•Ampico rolls wanted: 50774F or 7000001G, Schumann: Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15: VII Traumeri; 64023H or 621310, Chopin: Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2; 50922D, Chopin: Op. 25, No. 1 in A Flat Minor; Chopin: Op. 28, No. 4 in E Minor; 56462D, Beethoven: Bagatelle in A Minor, Fur Elise...

•I thought I had seen just about every kind of roll-playing device there is when up popped the ad for the Tel-Electric piano rolls: http://www.ebay.com/itm/381669221416 I am not, however, purchasing the rolls. Further research turned up a YouTube video of the Tel-Electric in operation: https://www.y...

•Greetings! I am giving a presentation and video on Wurlitzer 153 band organs for the centennial of the first organ built and I am looking for histories, photos, videos, and audio of any of these organs. There are several 153s that have seemed to disappeared from the face of the Earth, such as the o...

•The Symphonion Eroica music box plays a set of three coordinated discs, each 13-5/8" in diameter. I have a dozen or so partial sets, this is, missing one or two discs (usually the 'A' disc). I would be willing to purchase or trade matching discs to make complete sets. If you have partial sets, plea...