Re condition of the Bovey Collection in Virginia City, Montana.
AMICA just sponsored the restoration of a Wurlitzer in this collection.
Maybe if AMICA, MBSI and a few other organizations step up to the plate
and do some more of the same, it will become quite obvious as to what
these instruments can be.

I would hope that the Montana Commission is being made aware of these
emails, etc.  Maybe they will get the idea that they need to take care
of the musical treasures that they are fortunate to have in their
collection.  It should be really obvious to them with the before and
after of the Wurlitzer.

If they have a half a dozen instruments really working well, that
experience will tell the real story to people viewing the collection.
If they would put an instrument that worked really well next to one
that is wheezing, with the right marketing, they might be able to
solicit private funds to get other instruments back into a good state
of operation.

It really is unfortunate in this hobby but time and time again I have
seen instruments that people thought were playing well and they were
horribly out of tune, missing notes, and limping.  All of these
instruments require reasonable climate control and upkeep, just like an
automobile.  It is indeed sad, that museums will treat instruments in
this fashion.  They will not restore them (or have the funds available
to do so) and they will not sell them nor will they take care of them.

This really goes back to the discussion thread some time back about
leaving collections and materials to a museum.  Restoration and upkeep
on a rotating basis needs to be a part of the Virginia City collection.
Obviously, the curator staff lacks knowledge on these machines or else
they have totally different priorities which do not include bringing
the instruments up to par.

Just because something is in a museum does not mean that information
portrayed about the item is correct.  In the phonograph business,
I have seen Ediphones passed as phonographs with a standard 4-minute
cylinder on them which would _never_ work, or cards and dating on
machines that were totally inaccurate.  Another good example includes
Victrolas where they have not changed the needle in 20 years and they
are playing a late 78 on a very early machine.  I have actually had
service calls for cylinder phonographs where the only problem was that
they were trying to play four-minute records on a two-minute machine.

Randy Hammond