•The usual method is to melt out the potting compound in a slow oven, catching it in a pan under the transformer (I hope you haven't thrown the material out that you've already removed). After the transformer is repaired, just melt the potting compound again and re-pot the transformer using the old ...

•Okay, so I've been a lurker here for a while... Christmas Day, I and two other guys dragged (literally) an old Gulbransen player piano out of a house that had been sold and was going to be gutted. The piano was probably going to be broken up to be removed, so I got it for the proper price. It's com...

•Happy New Year MMDers! I just went through my first Christmas Holiday with my new turn-of-the-century audio visual experience -- a 1917 Schulz player piano. I had a great time entertaining the family and friends and, as a result, I received numerous gifts of player piano rolls. Some rolls needed re...

•I wrote a program to run a single-hole perforator similar to the MIDdster. I never finished the perforator but I did get pretty far along with the program. For verification of the hole placement file, it prints to a text file. It has been years since I looked at the program and I don't remember wha...

•Steve Goode asked about repairing rolls using the information from a MIDI file. I just bought a re-cut roll at auction. The recutter's perforator must have had a few sticky punches, because throughout the roll the same few notes were missing or only partially perforated. Luckily, Terry Smythe has s...

•To replace missing or torn roll leaders, it works well to color copy a good roll leader and superimpose a color copy from the box of the description. Then splice it to the roll with "Magic Tape". The copiers at the copy stores have 11" x 17" capability for the 11-1/2" wide leader, and reproduce it ...

•I am trying to help a small museum in Hope, North Dakota, with their 1915 Hamilton Manualo that needs some help with its transmission which is badly broken. The museum would like to either find a replacement or find out how it can be repaired. I did buy a Baldwin replacement a number of years ago f...

•In response to Bob Oppenheim's request regarding book music [160325 MMDigest], there are several articles in the COAA's journal, the "Carousel Organ", dealing with book music. I have listed those dealing with book music and can send any MMDer a PDF of any of these articles. Members of the COAA can ...

•[ Bob Oppenheim wrote in 160325 MMDigest: > How does one make reliable repairs to hinges or broken out sections, > for example? What materials and techniques are acceptable? As the former owner and operator of an 82-key Wilhelm Bruder Söhne fair organ, I have made hundreds of meters of book music a...

•Bob Oppenheim asked about repairing book music. The COAA (Carousel Organ Association of America - www.COAA.US) has published several articles on the subject which are now online. There is a general discussion of the work in http://www.coaa.us/index_archive/Issues_41_to_50/The%20Repair%20of%20Organ%...

•Bob Oppeheim asked about repairing torn and broken book music. There are several ways to enhance the life of old books. The most common problems are torn or worn bridges between notes caused by key wear. These can be filled in with cut pieces of card board and good glue. I have seem books from Euro...

•Hi, Luke Myers made an interesting comment in his note about restoring his Steger player action [16.12.15 MMDigest]. He mentioned that the screw holes for the pneumatics were becoming stripped out so that they no longer held the screws tightly. That's a consequence of putting the screws in and out ...

•This is a common problem in our hobby, and the "super glue" solution is very good, although with small screws I also find the old trick, "glue a toothpick in the hole", also works. I understand Luke's lament about bad screw holes, but I think screwed-on pneumatics are much easier to repair than glu...

•I thank Craig Smith for his post about fixing stripped screw holes. I especially appreciated the tip about dripping some CA glue into them! Additionally, though, if you want to prevent such stripping, it is helpful to put the screws back where they came from (particularly important on Steinway acti...

•I concur with Craig Smith's advice in MMD 16.12.16 regarding the repair of "overhauled" screw threads in wood. I too have used cyanoacrylate (CA) glues to reinforce the remaining threads in the wood. CAs come in several consistencies, and I find the "gel" type easier to handle and a little more pre...

•Dear All, I recently acquired a 75-key Imhof & Mukle Barrel Orchestrion that I had known twenty years ago. The previous owner had it working a treat, but after his passing several years ago the instrument has stood silent. It was converted to electric drive, but the original motor was left untouche...

•I get to do this with the clocks I repair, for every repairman seems to mess up the screws that hold the movement into the clock. The trick I've been using is to (1) gloop a bit of cyanoacrylate glue, either gel or liquid, onto a toothpick and swish it around in the afflicted hole, then I (2) remov...

•I have tried most of the methods mentioned, but I have found that using a wedge of leather along with CA glue works best for me. With a toothpick type repair the grain of the wood is the wrong way to grab the screw. John Ross Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada

•There is an epidemic about striped wood threads relative to old player pianos. Several reasons are the type of wood and the age. Poplar and maple wood seems to be the favorite. It's because it has a homogenous grain and is easy to fabricate with wood machines. The old wood screws 1917 to 1930 are f...

•A few more thoughts on stripped screws. First, it is difficult to imagine suitable places to use drywall screws in a player piano. They have huge heads and are either black oxide finished or zinc plated -- in other words, really ugly. Wood screws with tapered threaded portions are a really terrible...