If you have been following the DeBence blog, you know we have been
doing maintenance work on our Link AX, serial number 3487. This is
a very late machine. I have it all back together and something is
clearly wrong.
I put on what is labeled AX roll no. 139 cut by Clark Music Rolls.
I assumed it was wound properly and installed it per the text and
photos posted by Rust King. I am pretty sure the roll had never been
played before. The soft and soft cancel (tracker holes 1 & 2) are
about the only things that work properly. Shutoff (hole 66) works at
the end of each song, and also sometimes in the middle. I get a lot
of triangle play, and not much melody, and blank spots where I can see
holes entering the drive, but not much of anything plays, and what does
play sounds nothing like the song listed.
The arrow and printed message, "track with indicator" are on the top
front side of the roll (towards the front of the machine) and the arrow
points toward the drive as the roll enters it. The label saying it is
139 A is at the top and back as it enters the drive. The roll plays
songs in the listed sequence with #1 coming after the label identifying
the roll as by Clark in Maine [Don Rand].
The machine played the previous roll sounding correctly. All I have
done is reactivate some functions that were not working (plugged
tracker holes, bad actuating valves). I did not change any tracker bar
connections.
Can the roll be on "backwards?" Is it an RX roll mislabeled?
Is it just badly cut?
I sure could use some ideas as to what to try next.
Scotty Greene - DeBence Museum
Franklin, Pennsylvania
|