In the MMDigest of 23 March 2000 I told about the new museum,
the "Wilhelmsbau", part of the Technik Museum in Speyer(Germany).
That report is now stored in the MMD Picture Gallery under
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/wilhelmsbau.html

Today I am pleased to introduce you to Master Restorer Gotthard Arnold
and his team, the restorers of the mechanical music instruments of the
Technik Museums at Speyer and Sinsheim.  Both museums are located not
far away from Heidelberg and are associated.  The workshop of Mister
Arnold is located between both towns, in the village Bad Schoenborn.

Mister Arnold is one of the founders of the GSM, the German Society
for Self-playing Musical Instruments (Gesellschaft fuer Selbstspielende
Musikinstrumente e.V.).  We've known each other for quite some years
and in that time we have exchanged a lot of parts and items.

On the 16th of March this year he invited us (my wife Mechthild and me)
to his workshop in Bad Schoenborn, and then he went with us to the new
museum in Speyer, the "Wilhelmsbau".  It was not easy to find him in
Bad Schoenborn; no indications on the road.  An old man, who worked in
his garden, showed us the way to the property.

We reached a few old barns with firewood beside them.  You could
imagine finding a few cows, pigs, hens or sheep inside.  But inside
it was all very well arranged and clean, with an immense quantity of
parts and material (old wood, metal, screws and so on) for repairing
instruments.  It was a cold day and in the workshop a self made wood
stove heated the hall.

A nice apprentice girl welcomed us.  She was repairing a piano roll.
A French apprentice was restoring the wooden parts of a flute clock.
We got a good overview about the workshop and the different storerooms.

If you are among a crowd of people you will quickly notice Mister
Arnold, because he always has a special cap on his head, mainly hand
knitted.  This time it was a poodle's cap.  Normally he wears a
colourful cap like the Muslims in North Africa.

Let us look back into the past.  Mister Arnold was born in 1937 in
Saxon.  After WW2 that area was the Communist part of Germany.  He
learned the joiner's trade and later he changed to building organs.

When he was 20 he escaped to the West, reaching West Germany with a
backpack and a bicycle.  After years of building and repairing organs
all over Europe a crank organ man knocked at his door and asked him if
he could repair his crank organ.

"You are wrong here -- I am a builder of big organs and not of little
things like that", Mister Arnold said.  The crank organ man replied,
"Are you not able to repair a little thing like this?".

That was the beginning of a successful restorer career.  From small
musical boxes up to big dance organs he was able to make them play
again.  Museums and collectors all over the world are his clients.
A highlight in his life will be the official opening ceremony of the
new museum, the "Wilhelmsbau" in Speyer on the 13th of April 2000.
It's sad that he isn't interested in the Internet and e-mailing, for
he would be a big enrichment for the Mechanical Music Digest.

But he is active in  passing on his knowledge to young people.
Meanwhile Helga Erbacher, a young lady a generation younger than the
master, is the junior boss of the team.  Her hobby is to dance like
a mechanical doll while Mister Arnold is cranking an organ.  Many
people know her under the nickname "Pierrot".

The address of Mister Arnold is

     Gotthard Arnold
     Fachstaette historische Musikautomaten
     76669 Bad Schoenborn 1
     Germany
     Phone: +49-7253-4927   Fax: +49-7253-32020

Hauke Marxsen

 [ See the photos at http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/g_Arnold.html
 [ -- Robbie