John Tuttle and others wrote to me pointing out my errors in the
article about Terry Hathaway's web site in 990706 MMDigest.

Terry and partner Dave Bowers formerly operated Hathaway & Bowers,
the mechanical music gallery in California which helped many folks
start their collections.  Terry is now enjoying life away from the
rush of society, and is devoting much time to publishing his knowledge
and memories at the "Hathaworld" web site.  The correct URL is

    http://www.hathaworld.com/index.htm

Use of the text at the web site is permitted, with this proviso:

  "Permission is hereby granted to reproduce or use any textual
   material within this site that is specifically not excerpted from
   a credited source, as long as such usage is "fair and for a
   reasonable use," such as brief quotations embodied in articles and
   reviews, and a credit line is given."

I beg Terry's indulgence now for this anecdote from his web site,
because I want to show MMD his fine writing style.  ;)

Robbie Rhodes

 = = =

 [ The following text is excerpted from web page
 [    http://www.hathaworld.com/music/pianella/w12_1.htm
 [
 [ The web page is devoted to the history of a Wurlitzer Style 12
 [ Mandolin PianOrchestra which, in the 1970s, was jointly owned
 [ by So. California collectors Rudy Edwards and Bill Allen.

Bill Allen had an immense collection of absolutely superb art-glass
panels and shades, collected over many years, before art-glass was
generally a popular item to collect.  To enhance the appearance of his
art-glass, Bill had taken the time to groom an electro-plater, who had
become very skilled at gold plating the delicate lead and copper-foil
structures that held together the individually fitted pieces of colored
glass, without destroying or damaging its integrity.

After many years of successful and uneventful electro-plating experi-
ence, Bill trusted his plater with his most delicate plating work.
Thus, he didn't think twice when it came to having something plated,
or re-plated, he just delivered it to the plater, and a few days later
picked it up, knowing it would be right.

The shroud that formed the tail of the peacock "wonder light" had
originally been nickel plated, giving a shine and luster to its inner
reflective surface.  Over the years, however, the nickel and dulled and
partially flaked off, leaving an uneven appearance that Bill could not
leave alone.  He wanted it to shine just like new.  So, he had Rudy
Edwards carefully remove the tail shroud, so that he could take it to
his trusted plating vendor for chemical stripping and re-nickeling.

A few days later, when Bill and Rudy went back to pick up the replated
metal shroud, they were shocked to see that nothing remained but a few
shreds of flimsy metal.  The acid stripping process has literally
destroyed the peacock's tail, dissolving all but a remnant, which
consisted mostly of the crimped, reinforced edges.

According to Rudy Edwards, when Bill Allen set sight on the few shreds
of frail metal that still remained he was "really upset," as anyone who
ever knew Bill can easily imagine.  He was apparently beside himself,
not knowing what to say or how to resolve the situation, something
quite unusual for this normally very opinionated and outspoken man.

Fortunately, the man who owned the plating shop spoke up and said,
"Don't worry, I'll have one made for you."  So a new shroud of gleaming
stainless steel was made, approximating the original one in size and
shape.  It was buffed to a high polish and lacquered, providing the
spit-shined surface appearance that Bill had wanted.

 - - -

When researching for this project, Rudy Edwards made an interesting
comment regarding the limited nature of the machine's pipework:
"I always liked this machine better," he said, "because the bigger
PianOrchestras had too many different instruments always going on."

Copyright (C) 1999 by Terry Hathaway
http://www.hathaworld.com/