I just took on a repair job to start in April of a 1910 Kreiter
Nickelodeon that has been really abused and many of the parts are
questionable. It came from "Lumbertown, USA" in Brainerd, Minnesota.
The gears on the spoolbox wore out, so the maintenance man sent them to
some shop somewhere around Minneapolis, but he couldn't remember who
they were. The gears were left there for a couple of years, then
thrown out. Now the spoolbox is run with an electric motor that is
controlled with a model railroad speed control setup.
(I haven't seen any of it operate yet, because it is all in such poor
shape, however, Mr. Van Winkle told me it didn't maintain tempo real
well). If there is anyone with pictures of a like instrument closer
to original I'd appreciate it.
According to the Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments, the
rolls have a 3" core. I could use a couple more rolls for this piano
also. The roll that is on it is a Play-Rite roll, but I didn't write
down the number or the selections, so I don't have that information.
I can have it by tomorrow though, since this piano is less than a mile
from my business.
Incidentally, this is a 65-note player with no other orchestration in
the case. I suspect that originally there was probably a xylophone in
the top part, but I have nothing to back that up.
Dan Armstrong
Pine River, MN
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