>> And let's face it: most museums are stuffy preservationist places
>> where they would never dream of actually playing the instruments
>> because mechanical parts wear out over time and they're there to
>> preserve them.  What you end up with is at best a video of the
>> instruments playing and more likely just sitting around decaying
>> on the insides, cloth stiffening and the leather valves losing their
>> seal through lack of use.


That certainly happens in many museums.  As we discussed some months
ago, museums don't like to deal with machinery because it must be
maintained.  Thus any mechanical music gift to a museum would likely
be placed in dead storage, which museums do a lot of.


>> A hands-on museum where the instruments would be played is an
>> improvement on the idea, especially one where there is a restoration
>> studio inside is a great improvement on the idea, but I highly doubt
>> that it could generate the same type of enthusiasm as even Disneyland
>> where you could put in a coin and watch the roll turn, see the piano
>> keys depressed and listen to the loud and exciting music.


That's why a mechanical music museum would have to have only a small
number of instruments on display at any time.  With a limited collection,
all could be demonstrated under supervision.  You do _not_ want kids to
have unsupervised access to complex mechanical displays of any sort,
anywhere: the stuff gets torn up in no time.


>> Even these are only a way of displaying loud instruments.  I shudder
>> to think of playing a musical box before a group of 30 people and
>> having the music drowned out over the noise.


Soundproofed listening niches would help.  If the whole place was
furnished with effective acoustic damping and each instrument was
contained in a bit of a cubicle, the total din would be reduced.
Organs would be more of a problem than pianos, of course.


>> The best public display I have seen still remains the Nethercutt
>> collection in Sylmar, California.  I applaud Lynn Bullock's idea of
>> building a museum but I doubt that investors would be attracted to
>> it, from a practical sense.  I hope I'm wrong.


Well, investors in a museum ought to know that they're not going to get
a nickel back from their investment.  However, an astonishing amount of
equipment, including the space and the soundproof cubicles and the
refrigerators for the Vacuum Pump Snack Bar and the Pneumatic Gift Shop
can be leased.  The biggest expenses would be staff, insurance, and
security.

It's also important to distinguish between a museum that will let the
public meet mechanical music vs. a storage facility for instruments.

If there is to be a storage facility as well, it should be in
a warehouse with very limited access to the public.  And it might be
a reasonable idea for each donated piano to come with a small fee for
the future maintenance of the instrument.  (That's what they do with
animals given to no-kill shelters.)  I think I'd pay such a fee if
I could be assured that my pride and joy would have a good home.  The
museum would add the fee to its endowment, and each piano in the
warehouse would be exercised and checked over periodically.

For an extra fee, a limited group would be escorted through the
warehouse with the maintenance crew to listen to all of the instruments
being played, one after another.

I have no idea why I'm going on like this.  I suppose I'm in museum
mode lately.

Mark Kinsler