•Following is what I could jot down throughout two nearly 11-hour days of auction which took place at Miles Music Museum in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It is not complete as it only noted items I wanted to keep track of. I will use it to adjust my internal pricing schedule. You may notice that there w...

•I want to incorporate an old Vibraharp as one of the solo instruments in a large orchestrion I'm building. For those who can't place this instrument, it is the keyboard instrument on which was played "The Girl From Ipanima." They're really neat! But they have an old tube amplifier which I wasn't ab...

•In the Digest of 15 Dec, Jack Littlepage was asking for information about a reed pipe organette carrying the name Clariona. He informs us that the instrument has an inscription, that says: "Wholesale Depot No. 25, East Fourteenth St. New York City", as well as the name "Merrill Gally". He is asking...

•In response to Marc Elbasoni's letter about band organs being made of theatre organ pipes, I can only say I hope I never see one. I have seen band organs, both original and homemade, with church organ pipes as well. It's just amazing how nice a pipe can sound when it's being blown with 8 inches of ...

•Greetings to all. I have been a member of MMD since its inception and found it very informative and useful. As an aside I really miss several of the people that used to submit excellent technical articles. I hope they return soon. The main reason for posting the following is my desire to learn more...

•[ Bob & Sonja Lemon wrote to Ed Gaida: ] > BTW, have you ever encountered or rebuilt a Unafon? Talk about a > mind blower! We had to restore a Unafon that has been coupled to a > pipe organ and used on the Mickey Finn TV show years ago. After the > show ended, the Unifon and other organ parts were ...

•Hal Davis mentioned that he saw a Wurlitzer Monster on PBS. Well, Hal, thanks for the compliments on the organ sounding nice! It's the 1909 Monster that we restored in 1976, located in the beautiful original 1905 PTC [Philadepelphia Toboggan Company] #6 carousel in Burlington, Colorado, near the Ka...

•Hello MMD! Due to problems with our mail server I have not been able to answer anything in the last few days (Mail bomb!!!). The term "Glockenspiel" is used by German organ-builders for a metallophone. Glockenspiel means literally "play of bells", although bells were seldom used to make the sound. ...

•52-key Gasparini band organs are unique in two aspects: they have seven bass notes, and they are transposing a minor third _down_. The bass notes on the scale are E, F, G, A, A#, C, and D. They should be tuned C#, D, E, F#, G, A, and B, and even a little bit below that because the tuning of the A w...

•Stellas were the Swan song for Mermod Freres company. They were vastly over-engineered which led to extremely high production costs. This ultimately led to bankruptcy for Mermod; they couldn't compete profitably in a market dominated by Symphonion, Polyphon, and Regina, all of whom could produce co...

•Dear MMDers, Marc Elbasani wrote in MMD 990218 regarding the Tilden Park organ identity: > ... the Ruth organs of Waldkirch are known to have stopped flutes in > front of the trumpets (as helpers), whereas Bruder organs have cellos. > ... in front of the trumpets, I see quite clearly a rank of stop...

•It seems that most new builders (myself included) make the largest part of their pipe bodies of a softer wood, say pine or spruce, and the front of a harder wood like poplar or maple. Straight grain and hard wood make it easier to cut the mouth with no mistakes. It's also easier to cut a sharp uppe...

•English Fair Organs vs. American Band Organs, A Musical Difference? Dear MMDers, I'd like to make a couple comments on the sounds of various organs. Tim Trager and Douglas Bush have written so well about it. Tim says: > When one thinks of the American Band Organ sound, one usually > thinks of a Wur...

•I gave these definitions in 991010 MMD: >[ tremolo - the tone (frequency) is varied, but the amplitude is >[ mostly constant. >[ vibrato - the amplitude is varied, but the frequency is constant. MMDers are already writing to me expressing disagreement; please let me know where up-to-date definition...

•To continue the thread about using a pressurized spoolbox with a glass door, rather than vacuum to read music rolls; this system was quite common for both reed and pipe organ players. I can only speak with authority about the Aeolian Company, but since they made far more player reed organs and play...

•Amazing! I too had the same idea, years ago, to make the rumble strips by toll booths say "Slow Down" or "Wake Up!" or "You need a Coke" or whatever. Someone will patent that and make a mint off the state highway departments. And yes I got the idea from such a greeting card whose plastic strip said...

•Johan Liljencrants writes in Digest.00.04.03: > 3. Inward beating reeds, as found in the oboe, bassoon, clarinet, > saxophone, and organ reed pipe. The wind supply tends to _close_ the > reed passage. The frequency is complexly related to the natural > frequency and is also much dependent on pressu...

•If John McClure is still not convinced. here's a simple test he can try in his own garden. Take a 50-foot length of standard garden sprinkler hose and blow down it, then take a 25-foot length of the same hose and blow down that, and keep reducing the hose length until you're down to 1 foot. Notice ...

•Australian Terry Lloyd has been keeping Tim Trager and me apprised of his group's progress in restoring that continent's only Bruder Elite Apollo band organ. Terry has agreed to write a little history of that organ for MMD when time allows, but for now he has a few questions that I don't know the a...

•Glenn Morris writes about the beautiful appearance but disappointing loudness of the new Salem band organ. I have heard a recording of the Johnson 163, and aside from the "churchy" sound, my main complaint would be about a feature that the company sees as a virtue: the 16-foot ultra-low bass pipes...