Well, for Christmas I had the above book which was a great pleasure
to read when screaming children and relatives were visiting!  What
wonderful collections -- another great book by Reblitz and Bowers, even
at that price.  I regularly buy books for my profession and this book
I feel is great value.

One problem, I personally feel -- although not having visited these
collections, it seems from the wonderful photographs -- that many
instruments have been over-restored to a massive extent: repainting
of fronts in not authentic styles.  Although I have not seen the
instruments in the USA, I have seen some before they left the U.K. and
Europe in general, before their restoration in the USA ensued.

How far should a restorer go?  Should it look like new?  I don't think
so.  How many people would restore an old master painting by repainting
the work, saying now it looks like new?  If you had a good piece of
furniture would you restore it to like new?  Do this in the arts and
antique world and the value of the object would fall dramatically.  Its
use and marks from its past is all part of an instrument's history.

If you want it to look new then make a replica.  That is not to say
_don't_ restore, but be wary how far you go down the line with that
work.  I believe there is a very big difference from a well restored
instrument and an over restored instrument.  I am sure this will open
up a hornets nest, as we say in the UK.

I have worked in the conservation field in Museums and Galleries and
I am a trained piano and organ builder.  I presently work in a large
municipal museum and gallery and commission conservation.  In this
country we have a conservation register which is maintained by a
professional body; all restorers and conservators that a professional
museum can use in the UK if they have any state funding, however small
that funding is, are listed on this register with full details of past
work.

It does not matter how small an item it is; a full report is returned
to us showing images before, during and after restoration.  All
materials used (all glues, for example) will be listed, not with the
trade name but the complete chemical makeup.  This is so that in future,
when further work needs to be done or old work to be undone, this can
happen.  How many Mechanical Instrument restorers do that?  How many
would be willing to do that?

I have seen wonderful fairground and band organs that have come out of
a restorers workshop and sound totally different, as he or she has
revoiced the pipework and it is no longer, say, a Gavioli, but a "Mr
Restorer" organ.

This posting is not just for mischief but for discussion and I hope it
will stir up professional debate.

Finally, please don't be put off -- the book is a _must_ for all.  It
stands with the Bower's "Encyclopedia" and with Reblitz's "Treasures"
as an all-time great.

Jonathan Holmes