•Art: I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. It's the fine details that make or break any musical performance: the player devices, the piano and instruments, and the roll it plays, plus _regulation_. For those of you that haven't got the second edition of Art's book, "Piano Servicing, Tuning and...

•I now have a web site dedicated to my electronic piano roll business at http://www.mcn.org/i/spencer/default.html The E-Rolls are for use with the Broadmoore Research PowerRoll as well as other MIDI-playing devices. This is a preliminary effort and I am interested in feedback, including suggestions...

•Robbie commented: > [ I wonder if other expensive hobbies (e.g., antique cars) > [ have the problems like we have with restoration shops. Yup. Though few consumer devices are as complex as a reproducing piano, I think you'll find that the same threads run through the entire collection universe. (I ...

•Mr. Firman wrote in MMD 000111 asking what sorts of player piano mechanisms would have the entire mechanism within the drawer. It is not an Ampico nor a Welte mechanism if the stack and/or expression devices are in the drawer. Only three possibilities come to mind. They would be Angelus Artrio, (bu...

•Dual-mode reproducers were pretty common in their day, though I suspect Edison never made any. Independent companies made aftermarket devices for all types of phonographs, even though Edison initially tried to discourage their use. I have a reproducer that lets you play the thin, lateral, Victrola ...

•-- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD -- Hi, my name is Reid Echandia. I am a preservationist and have a love of all antique mechanical devices. I have two Studebakers to attest to this that I re-animated myself. In my home I have a Wurlitzer that I saved from the scrap heap and I mu...

•Dear Ken and MMD, As a reminder to MMD, and information for Ken who asked the question in the 010920 MMDigest, there is a group of over 90 people designing and building devices to read punched media into computer image files and then translate those files into punching and MIDI files. At this point...

•I respond to Diane H Kay and her inquiry about the metals used in the manufacture of musical box tune discs. I'm delighted your family has inherited and appreciates these outstanding mechanical musical devices. You are most fortunate, both to have them and to love them. Now, to the metal substance ...

•The good old topic of organ air supply surfaced in the MMD Pipes Forum in 1999. At that time I learnt a lot from our experienced community about what devices you employ to get a stable air supply. A brief review of these devices and some of their properties, described in acoustical engineering term...

•Hi All, Over the years I've had numerous occasions to remove corroded parts from a variety of devices. Across the board, I've found that the most effective technique involves forcing the part to go further "in" before attempting to take it "out". I realize that that might sound a little vague, so I...

•The new economics of roll perforation: a contrarian view In the distant past, when player pianos and other mechanical music devices were in vogue, there was a huge mass market for music rolls of all types. To satisfy this market, machines were designed to punch many copies of a roll at once, and to...

•I have several questions that have come up in relation to San Francisco's Musee Mecanique. I'm curious if there is any way to quantify how many people are left in the world who repair machines like you can see at the Musee. Those machines include devices such as: - Working Models (automation figure...

•I must apologize to those who ordered Rolmonica parts from me last. I was not prepared for the number of these devices out there. I ran out and had to make more. Several of you have more than one and purchased two or three kits. I have now caught up with the orders and everyone should have theirs b...

•Dear Folks, I am a fortunate 'beta-tester' (if a system with zero problems can be deemed in 'beta testing') of the new Gerety-Chase 'in-line' MIDI valve system. The Gerety-Chase System ('GCS') is designed for use with all pneumatic player devices; it is being used by me in my 1924 Steinway XR equip...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- After measuring several sizes of tubing and thinking about where and when players and other mechanical music devices were first constructed, I am convinced that the tubing is/was actually metric. Is this in fact the case? Is 5/32" actually 4 mm, ...

•Hello Harland, Saw your request in Mechanical Music Digest. I collect mechanical music devices but am now reducing my collection. In addition to those devices you mentioned, I have a Play-a-Sax and a Clarola. Both of these are in good condition and both have original boxes but not original packagin...

•I have recently purchased an orchestrion and after a cross country trip, there are a number of devices that are not working correctly. Does anyone know of a tech in the Philadelphia area? Bernard A. Brownstein

•Apropos to nothing, much: Since there seem to be so many computer people in this group, would anyone care to offer an opinion as to whether mechanical music devices qualify as robots in the modern sense? Just wondering. I think they do, though they lack feedback. (?) Mark Kinsler Lancaster, Ohio US...

•My two cents on a fun and interesting dialogue! I would tend not to include musical boxes, orchestrions and player/reproducing pianos as robots since they act on themselves. The Vorsetzers (push-up players) act on other devices according to a program and thus I would call them robots. Another examp...

•Leaking Bellows Cloth or Bad Seal? Hi All, Had I not encountered the same problem in two different devices in one week, I would most likely not be writing. However, the following problem was so severe and so deceiving that I feel it deserves mention in the MMD. The problem seemed to be leaking bell...