[ Cristian Dragomir wrote in 151106 MMDigest:

> I was thinking if I plugged the existent mounting holes for
> the comb and drill new ones, maybe, maybe I will get it working.

Hi Cristian,  That's a dangerous assumption.  Whoever matched the comb
to the cylinder might have got the comb tip-to-pin alignment right but
that's no guarantee that the tuning would be correct.  Do you have the
case and tune sheet?  There are a couple of starting points especially
if you know one or more tunes.  You could try the following:

1) Put a strip of masking tape along the top of the comb.  This kills
the sound but lets you hear the rhythm.  It might help identify a tune
but even if it doesn't, hearing which teeth play with each other could
help.

2) The next stage could be to free those teeth only; hear if any chords
sound right during the tune; also if any individual teeth sound right.

If you take metal off the end of a tooth it will raise the pitch, if
you take it off the comb near the comb base it will lower the pitch
but be very, very careful.  If you raise the pitch and make a mistake
you might be able to lower it back to where you started by putting a
tiny dab of solder under the tip about 1/32" back but it's harder
lifting the pitch back up if you've lowered it too much.  Depending on
how wide the end of a tooth is behind a tip you could try a tiny bit of
Plasticine just back of the tip first.

Unless you're doing this for a living just take your time and do
nothing that cannot be reversed until you are absolutely certain that
the box sounds right.

Jim Weir
Scotland

P.S.: Plasticine can stick reasonably well but can really spoil your
day if it starts pinging off...