Re: Cylinder Music Box Repair
By Nancy Fratti
An answer to Todd Augsburger who inquired about causes of damages he saw on a cylinder box he was thinking of purchasing. Letter of 11/18/96 to MMD
Hi!
Nancy Fratti here....to try to answer your questions about the box you saw.
1) you say that it has "teeth replaced". This is OK if the teeth are
replaced properly. The teeth might be out of tune, which could
definitely make it sound dissonant.
2) trouble shifting is USUALLY connected with sagging cylinder pitch
inside the cylinder. It literally rubs against the cylinder axle
and impedes movement. Enough pitch on the axle and the cylinder can
'freeze' in place and not move at all!
3) the replaced teeth might not have their tooth tips 'on center' and
thus be might be plucked by the pins in the adjacent tune...making
them sound out of tune (even if they WERE tuned properly).
4) The non-sensical sound could also be caused by the cylinder being
out of register with the tooth tips.....playing 2 tunes at once
because the pins hit on the sides of the tooth tips, pins from two
tunes could be plucking any given tooth.
5) Pins can be straightened, but sometimes they break. If you try to
straighten them and they consistently break, then it's time to have
the cylinder repinned. Repinning, thru me, costs $52/inch for a
standard diameter (up to 2 1/4") cylinder. Newly pinned cylinders
can also have their pins raked (slanted towards the back of the box)
for an additional surcharge.
6) Who knows if you can repair them!? Are you better than the guy who
did it the first time? Have you had any experience?? If you don't
know the basic causes of the problems you've explained, I sincerely
doubt that you could cure them. Since the box has been butchered
once, it is better to have an experienced restoration person undo
the damages.
7) Cost of restoration depends upon extent of damages. The box would
have to be personally examined by a professional to determine the
cost estimate.
I've been restoring boxes for 28 years... if you need any other advice, I'd be happy to 'talk' to you! You can e-mail me at:
MusicBoxLady@Juno.com
or call at
518-282-9770 (9am-7pm, M-F). |
(Message sent Thu 21 Nov 1996, 02:23:18 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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