I own a barrel orchestrion with 3 barrels.  Two of them are in great
shape, but the third had a bath or shower in an earlier part of its
life.  The good news is that the wood is in good shape, however some
of the pins have rusted badly, and the paper that covers the barrel
has come off in some places.  Surprisingly (to me) no pins on the
barrel are loose.

Last night I was looking at that barrel more closely and noticed
something I thought odd.  In the area where the paper had come off,
I saw many small holes in the barrel, aligned with one another.  They
seem to be places where pins were missing, but... the holes in this
area are not round, as are the pins.  They're more like narrow slits.

Further investigation in another area of the barrel where the paper
is in place, but separating from the barrel showed more of these kinds
of holes.  The odd thing about it is that there are *no* holes in the
paper covering that area, so I am left wondering why there are holes
in the barrel but not in the paper that covers the wood.  I have a few
theories, but I don't like any of them:

1. Theory:   Someone re-pinned the barrel.

Problem:  It sounds like a lot of work to remove all the pins.
Besides, the holes I see are too small to be what's left after the
pins are removed.

2. Theory:   The holes were guides for pinning the barrel, but the
barrel was never pinned as proposed.  The barrel was covered with
paper and a new set of songs were pinned onto the barrel.

Problem:  I don't know how markings were originally applied to the
barrel for pinning, but I assume it would be printed on the paper
that covered the barrel before it was attached to the barrel but maybe
someone inscribed the wood with holes as a guide to pinning.

3. Theory:   The paper in the area I'm describing just magically
healed itself.

Problem:  Hey, you never know.


If someone can educate me about the techniques used for marking up the
barrels for pinning, perhaps it would help me make some sense out of
what I'm seeing.  Better yet, if anyone has other supporting evidence
for any of my theories above or has a real answer, I'd appreciate
hearing it.

Bob Fitterman
bobf@ilx.com