Hi Tim,

At 11:40 PM 8/20/2002, you wrote:

> After reading your message I got a little more curious and took
> another closer look at the works. I believe someone had painted
> the bedplate to look like brass.

This is typical of a cast-iron bedplate.  Most likely the surface is
ribbed.  The gold paint was used when they shifted to cast iron
bedplates to make them resemble brass as had been used in the past.
This is the norm.  The surface is likely ribbed in an east-west
direction as well.

> When I look at the bottom it clearly looks to be cast, and I don't
> think brass would be cast (but being so novice I wouldn't want to bet
> on it).  I also noticed that the 5-digit number I mentioned is also
> "painted" on the bottom.  I don't know what else to call it, it looks
> like it's white chalk or something and is _barely_ visible.

That's another clue that the tune sheet belongs with the movement.
Very likely it _is_ chalk and was used during manufacture to keep track
of the various parts of the movement and case.

> Also, upon closer inspection, I believe there may be at least a few
> pins missing, although some of them may just be the dirt which is
> also evident on it.

The condition of the cylinder is always suspect, particularly if there
are problems with the teeth in the comb.  You do mention a few missing
tips.  It takes fairly close inspection to be sure of the condition of
the cylinder and bent or missing pins are quite common.

In some cases quite a number of pins can be missing and you may still
get a reasonable but less-than-ideal performance, or you may find one
or two tunes that play very poorly.  This latter case would be an
indication of severe damage due to a run, which I think was mentioned
earlier by Eliyahu Shahar as a possibility.

Have a close look using a strong magnifier to see if all the pins are
pointing in the same direction (they should be).  On later boxes, such
as yours, the pins are likely to be very fragile and I would recommend
against trying to fix anything without help from someone with experience.
Repinning is for the experienced amateur or preferably a professional
and it is expensive so it would be nice to avoid it if possible.

By the way, it is usual for all of the pins to be very slightly bent at
the same angle in the direction of rotation.  This is intentional and
is referred to as "canting."

> I don't see any pins that appear to be in quick succession in time
> with the movement, but there are some that are directly side by side
> left to right. This is getting interesting.

So the jury will have to be out on that one.  If you can take a clear
close-up of the cylinder it may help solve the problem.

> Is there any chance that the bedplate and bearing bridge could be
> correct but someone replaced the cylinder with another of the correct
> size?

That is very unlikely as it simply would not be worth the effort.  Even
if a comb of the correct length with the correct number of teeth and
the correct engagement with the cylinder could be found there would
still be the problem that it would not be tuned to the correct scale
and the music would sound terrible.

> What about the likelihood of "faking" by writing those numbers
> on the bottom and stamping them in the bridge?

I think this is most unlikely.

I have to remark that it is nice to see someone as interested in a
cylinder musical box as you are and I truly hope that you manage to
make good progress.

All for now,

Jim Heyworth,
Sechelt, B.C., Canada