Reply to Joel Hoshaw about the zinc disk of his Regina: There
_should_ be no difference between playing a zinc or a steel disc.
It is possible that a lot of the projections on the zinc disc have been
pushed down a bit through bad storage over the years, and that would
cause them to be an incorrect depth.  I've never seen this happen
though.

I can surmise that possibly the disc itself is slightly thinner than
your steel discs ( all the steel ones were not the same thickness
either!) and this, in combination with worn pressure arm rollers, would
prevent the disc from being held down firmly on the star wheel gantry.
My suggestion: if it is only one zinc disc that is giving you the
problem, don't play it!

Regarding refinishing the case: the "don't refinish it" mentality
was brought about by the antiques worlds' mania with retaining the
'original finish' on Chippendale & other period furniture.  Personally
I don't agree with their ideas.  While retaining an original finish is
a great idea, if a piece of furniture is dark, dingy and not showing
off the grain of the wood as it did originally, is the piece of
furniture 'original'??

In the case of musical boxes, and, indeed, any other piece of
furniture, I feel you can refinish it as long as it is done in good
taste! I've seen many very poor refinishing jobs (done by
'professionals') that definitely de-value the piece.

Don't dip-strip things -- the glue was water soluble and you'll
loosen your corner joints, so do it by hand!  Be careful of a lot of
the mahogany Reginas: they were dyed with aniline dyes and will look
'blotchy' if you use stripper on the case.

I suggest lots of elbow grease and denatured alcohol; this will take
off the old finish and leave the dyes and wood tone.  Finish with a
base coat of thinned-out orange shellac, and then top coats of varnish
or lacquer.  IF you do a nice, soft piano finish you won't hurt the
value of the machine.  IF you do a quickie, polyurethane finish, you
will _definitely_ hurt the value.

Have fun!

Nancy Fratti - Panchronia Antiquities
PO BOX 210 - Whitehall, NY 12887-0210 USA
518-282-9770  or fax: 518-282-9800
Disc & Cylinder Musical Boxes - Musical Box Restoration Supplies