Re: Music Box Restoration
By Larry Smith
> Any idea where I can get the inside of an old music box worked on and
> restored? Please give me a reply. Thanks
Well, I can take a crack at two. I now know of two places that can do a quality restoration of a music box. The Musical Wonder House in Wiscasset, Maine, has an associated restoration shop that can do museum-quality restorations. They are not at all cheap, but from the folks I've talked to, they are arguably one of the best. They can do both case work and mechanism. I have a piece in with them getting restored now, a nice little orchestral box, and I will report on them again when I get it back, hopefully before Thanksgiving. The other place, which I've just discovered myself, is Panchronia Antiquities, run by Nancy Fratti, lately discussed here. I know they do mechanism restor- ations (I discussed that with Nancy) I would assume, but I don't know for sure that they do case restorations as well. From talk- ing with Nancy, I have an impression of an outfit that aims to provide a good _sounding_ restoration, with less emphasis on the cosmetics, and therefore probably quite a bit cheaper than the Musical Wonder House. Panchronia Antiquities address is Rt. 4 PO box 210, Whitehalll, NY 12887-0210 518-282-9770. The Musical Wonder House is POB 604 - 18 High St. Wiscasset, Maine 04578, (207) 882-7163 or (207) 882-6373 and is run by Danilo Konvalinka.
Bob Conant, who knows Nancy and Panchronia much better than I, wrote to this list on 16 Aug 95 18:40:49 PDT, saying:
> Incidentally, the lady's name at Panchronia Antiquities is Nancy Fratti. She
> is a very highly skilled music box restorer and every two years, in the
> summer, she offers several week long classes on music box restoration. The
> participants bring their own music box with them and work on it during the
> classes. This is an intense course and involves learning and using machine
> tools.
regards,
Larry Smith |
(Message sent Mon 21 Aug 1995, 14:45:51 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
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