•I need to repair a band organ snare drum. The "show side" of the drum is animal skin with a painting on it. The skin has developed a tear and I would like to repair it without replacing it. Is there anyone with any experience or suggestions? Kirk Russell

•I've followed the thread "Preserving the Music of Music Rolls" with interest -- one of life's certainties is that the most badly damaged old piano rolls are always the best ones! I'm really surprised that no one has mentioned replacing the damaged edge(s) and if necessary re-cutting the sustain tra...

•I had a bass drum repaired for my Arburo by Cooperman Fife and Drum Company in Bellows Falls, Vermont. They did a good job. Randy Hayno

•I had to replace a torn skin bass drum head that had been painted white at some time in the past and had decals applied circa 1950. Matching decals were also on the snare drum head and the body of the Wurlitzer 105. To keep the old carnival look intact, I took a digital photo of the drum head and h...

•On these "fishing pole" tracker systems I use squidding line or gorilla line that you can get at Wal-Mart. These are both strong and _flexible._ These are also excellent replacements for old silk cords that broke on square grands, rocker actions and 'teens, 20s and 30s grand whippens such as in Kra...

•Thanks to all of you who responded to my questions about the Simplex tracker assembly. I looked at a YouTube video by John Tuttle and I cannot see that the subject tracker assembly has a missing part, like the lady claimed that there was -- it just looks like the assembly has come apart! So I will ...

•Is there any way to replace broken tabs on music box discs? James Warner

•[ James Warner wrote in 140609 MMDigest: > Is there any way to replace broken tabs on music box discs? Discs are made of either zinc or steel. While the steel disc projections _can_ be repaired, I'd caution against it. I've seen many discs where people tried to repair the projections, only to cause...

•Hi All, Regarding the problem with the 1974 Aeolian Duo/Art shutting off when the system goes into Rewind, the most likely problem is the absence of the bleed inside the shut-off pneumatic. The way Aeolian built that model requires that there be a small needle-size bleed inside the bellows which li...

•With the increasing difficulty of finding replacement elbows, I have discovered a solution, although expensive, better than PVC plumbing elbows. I am currently restoring a Welte system that has several pot metal flanged elbows and several flanged connectors. The units are in the early stages of det...

•Regarding Don Barton's note about repairing pot metal flanges and elbows, I have always had good luck simply coating the inside and outside surfaces with either PVC-E or Elmer's glue, _provided_ that the piece is still structurally sound. This seals the surface and seems to prevent further deterior...

•Pot metal or lead type elbows fail because of the different metals used in the old alloys. They will continue to deteriorate even when plated as the metals used in the casting process will continue to chemically react in a bad way for elbows. I believe is called "intergranular corrosion". What size...

•Don, Please let us know how that works. I have my doubts, as pot metal deteriorates along the atomic structure alloy lines. There are many theories as to the cause of this self-destruction, most popular one is the presence of lead in the alloy. It takes very little to cause the issue, although I th...

•Hi, I'm just curious about this method of saving pot metal parts, for two reasons. First, I understood that the deterioration of pot metal parts was from some sort of internal 'corrosion', due to minute contamination of the original materials. That suggests to me that 'sealing' the part with a surf...

•Dear Fellow Enthusiasts, a posting by Don Barton suggests nickel plating of deteriorating pot metal items but says that it can be expensive. Two of the easiest do-it-yourself electroplating metals are copper and nickel. So apart from a modest initial set-up cost, the process is quite simple and rel...

•As far as I know, pot metal was made up from whatever materials were lying around. It was cheap and easy to brew up. The manufacturers of this stuff probably didn't realize that it would all fall apart 50 years later. The intergranular corrosion is caused by the mixing of metals that are not compat...

•Why bother reinforcing junk! Dorothy Taylor has the elbows, see http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Authors/Aut5031.html Regards, Jon Page

•Pot metal was not made of anything lying around, or of chewing-gum wrappers, or any of the other old-wives tales. The problem was impurities in the zinc which caused intergranular corrosion. Wikipedia has some good articles under "Zamak" and "zinc pest" Alan Douglas [ Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/w...

•I was asked to sell a 20-key Hofbauer "Tanzbär" accordion for a fellow MBSI member. The accordion is in excellent shape but has been un-touched for several years. It plays when plugged into the wall outlet, but I believe the battery is dead. Also, some valves seem to be sticking or not working. Has...

•[ Philip Jamison wrote in 140701 MMDigest: > Has anyone ever worked on these instruments? I can't see any > screws holding it together. You should come to all the COAA (Carousel Organ Association of America) Rallies and spend your evenings in the hospitality area. Small organ repairs are a common o...