I, too, was recently in the San Francisco area, and managed to take in a
few sights.  I didn't make it to the Castro Theatre since the evening
I had free was a Rainer Fassbinder night and I wasn't in the mood to see
any of his films.

I did, however, make it to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.
The house was stripped of all its furniture when the estate sold it after
Mrs. Winchester's death in the 1920's, but a few of the rooms were
re-furnished with musical instruments.  I spotted a residential pipe
organ, a reed organ, and a square piano; all 19th century, and none of
the "mechanical" in the sense that we speak of.

The gift shop, however, has a nicely restored Link "E" orchestrion.
There was a plaque on the front, prepared by the Bay Area AMICA chapter,
giving some background info on the instrument and also mentioning that it
was restored by AMICA volunteers.

Okay, and now for the Musee Mechanique in San Fransisco --

I saw the place for the first time at the tag-end of 1995, so I had an
idea of what to expect.  This time, in addition to bringing my sleazy
little pocket camera, I brought pen and paper so I could make notes.
This is what I saw:

1. National 8-roll tune selectable player piano.  I don't have the
"Encyclopedia" so I can't identify it further.  According to Vince, the
attendant and I guess you could say "manager" and all-round human
presence for the establishment, this one got back from the restorer only
two weeks previously.  It was sounding great, and the crowds kept it
going nearly continuously.

2. A completely generic orchestrion next to it.  I wasn't able to see any
identifying markings on it at all, and the portions of the piano plate
that normally have that sort of information was obscured by other parts
of the instrument.

3. Gem roller organ.  This was not a very happy instrument, and it wasn't
very happy the previous time I saw it, either.

4. North Tonawanda Style "L" Piano, ca. 1920.  The roll was Capitol Roll
#A-1972 (mfd. by Play-Rite, Turlock, CA).  Both the piano and the roll
are absolutely top-notch, some of the most top-notch mechanical music
I've ever heard have come from this instrument!!  Incidentally, I have
the cassette from "Carrousel Music" of Marion Roehl's instrument of the
same type.  The cassette notes describe Roehl's as "the only known
example of this style of machine." I'm glad these notes are wrong.  (And
by the way, the cassette is pretty snappy, too.)

5. Some manner of Seeburg coin piano, which plays 'A' rolls.  Reasonably
well behaved.

6. Another Seeburg coin piano, also playing 'A' rolls.

7. An 1890's P. Uzzeni barrel piano with various other instruments.
Pretty monstrously out of register, as it was the previous time I heard
it.  However, this time I *did* get to see Vince wind it up before it
would play!  Well, that wasn't quite worth the $1 I put into it, but it
beats nothing...

8. "Triumph barrel orchestrion" (really just a barrel piano) made by
Gustav Stingl, Vienna, 36-note.  This is the only one of the barrel
instruments in the place that managed to play anything recognizable as a
tune, although it too needs work.

9. Seeburg 1923 Orchestrion, dated 1923.  K? KT? -- It didn't say.  I'm
sure someone with the "Encyclopedia" could figure it out.

10. Accordion orchestrion/coin piano.  Completely anonymous.  Plays well
with pretty catchy music.

11. A fine, great big Wurlitzer "B" orchestrion.  This instrument has been
completely worked over (new hammers and strings, aside from new cloth and
tubing everywhere), and it shows.  I covet this instrument!!  I don't
covet the roll, which was mostly rather dull marches and waltzes,
although the arrangements were still good.  All of the stained glass
panels were replaced with plain glass to show the workings, but there is
a postcard available which shows the original art deco glass.  Very nice
work!

12.  Barrel organ -- 20-keys, ca. 1890, Robinson & Sons, Dublin.  Again,
it's a barrel instrument, so it hasn't been worked on.  Very tired and
wheezy sounding; certainly not worth the $1 to make it sadly limp
along through the tune.

13. Regina 20 3/4" disc musical box.  The last time I visited, it was
playing an original Regina disc.  This time, it was outfitted with a
brand-spanking-new shiny Porter disc.  It's possible that this is the
very same instrument that was included in the 1954 recording at the
site, which sounded more like an automatic musical boiler factory.
The difference between poor recordings of unrestored instruments, and a
nice happy instrument "live", is remarkable.  This Regina box sounded at
least as good as the shiny new Porter box on display in the Mystery House
gift shop.  (Oops, I forgot to mention it earlier.)

14. Small coin piano made by the Auto-Electric Piano Co., 44 note.
Yes, even the little ones can be a lot of fun too.

15. There is a Seeburg (K? KT? KT special?) near the door which has a
fire-damaged case (but with intact glass -- go figure).  The accompanying
card states that the instrument was damaged in the fire the destroyed
the Cliff House.  Folks, this fire was in *1907*, so fat chance!!

16. This wasn't an instrument at all -- it's an LP that was recorded
last year at the Musee Mechanique.  It wasn't cheap ($13) but on the
other hand it shows with reasonable accuracy how well the instruments
are performing.  Now, in all fairness, the producers of the record did
not include any of the tired, wheezy barrel instruments; and the ones
that were included were reasonably well in tune, so this would prob-
ably be an enjoyable record even if you're very fussy about tuning and
regulation.

I confess I can still enjoy MM instruments  which are not really in
tip-top form, although those barrel instruments mentioned above exceed
even my levels of tolerance.  The chief failing of the LP recording is
that it omits all information about the instruments and the rolls they
were playing.  (However, all song titles were provided, which is another
step ahead of the 1954 record.) ...  OK!  I've babbled long enough.

Colin Hinz * ASFi Music Works * asfi@interlog.com * (416) 516-8686 *