Recently we restored a beautiful Swiss organocleide cylinder music box.

Here is a video of it playing prior to restoration.

 

 

The restoration process included cleaning, polish and lacquer all the parts. Heating the cylinder and re-cementing it.

The mainspring was removed checked for cracks, cleaned, reinstalled and re-lubricated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The governor was checked for wear and any worn bushings were replaced.

A new escape gear was manufactured and installed. Also the endless screw was repointed and polished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The musical combs had their tuning recorded. They were then cleaned. Several broken tips were replaced. Three of the missing tips were on one comb as shown below. The arrows point to the missing tips. Wear was removed from all tips of the teeth. Then new wire dampers were installed.

The tuning scale was analyzed. Mistakes were corrected and all comb teeth were re-tuned to the correct scale.

The zither was recovered also and reinstalled.

click on image to enlarge.

The music unit was then assembled. The cylinder was checked for proper alignment.  The retuned and re-dampered combs were reinstalled. They were then adjusted for volume and synchronization.

Please listen to before and after the video. You will note a considerable difference.

The sound is now clear, rich and full.

 

 

We appreciate the opportunity to work our craftsmanship on such a fine instrument.

 

For a free estimate on music box restoration, please call 802-728-9694 and ask for Ron or Dwight.

To zoom in on pictures, click on pictures.

This is a very rare Bornand Mermod orchestra music box. It has a drum, set of tuned bells

with castanet and an 18 note reed organ.

 

restored unit with completely rebuilt organ bellows.

Hand engraved tune card made from brass and silver plated

view of the spring barrels and winding mech.

completed unit in its refinished cabinet.

The owner of this music box, purchased it at auction in Paris,

had it shipped home, and then gave it to us for total restoration.

Amazing sound with all instruments synchronized to play together

One cannot measure the satisfaction that comes from doing precise work with

magnificent end results.

At the end of 2017, we saw two automatics in our shop. The real amazing part was that they were both 27 inch Regina’s. Here we see how the second of these boxes started in our shop..

As we normally do, we started with restoring the bedplate. This included replacing the worn dampers, removing the ruts in the combs that were worn in by the starwheels, and re-tuning the combs, so that this box would sing songs beautifully again. We also replaced the pressure rollers as the old ones had signs of wear.

Before

With the bedplate repainted and reset up with the newly polished and tuned combs; we moved on to the motors. Usually we end up replacing the ribbons due to rust or to lengthen the wrap around the pulleys with most ribbon lift changers.  This insures a longer life of the ribbons. This box also had somehow broken a tooth off the lift gear. We had to surgically replace this tooth, so the lift would work right again.

The next part was to clean the motors and regrease the springs. The disc drive pinion on this box further showed that this box had been used a lot and needed to be replaced. At some point,  this box had been worked on and someone had modified the coin-op. We were lucky to have an old coin-op that we could put in

With all the parts out of the box, cleaned, polished and repainted; it was time to reassemble. This is when the fun begins of adjusting all the parts to work  together correctly. The spring barrel that powers the disc drive gear stop slots were not spaced right on the barrel, so we had to shave one to make the disc stop in the right spot.  This enables the discs  to always pick up in the same place each time. We also added fingers to guild the lift fingers to a consistent spot on the tune rack.

This is just part of what we did to make this 27 inch Regina operate correctly and sound beautifully again. As you can see there is a lot of work that goes into such a beautiful and complicated box. Here is the results of our hard work

 

Here is wonderful example of the quality music boxes we get to work on.  As you can see we have done a complete restoration of the beautiful instrument.

We had to rebuild the bellows from scratch and for anyone who is thinking about do it themselves it is major undertaking and even though we have done many  thru the years it takes many hours to do a correct job.  It can’t leak any air once your done or it just won’t have the power to play the music.

The governor on this music box (the governor controls the speed/tempo of the motor) was not original when we got it and we had to make many of the parts (done from pictures of it in its original state).  We had to calculate the proper gearing as it was playing way to fast with what it had and this was another one of those items where years of restoration work pays off as you can make an educated guess of what it needed to be.  It takes all lot of power to operate the music box so having the correct speed on the governor was critical.

This was a wonderful music box to listen to when completed.  With most Organ & Bell boxes these two often over powers the musical combs, but not his one the combs embellish the organ & bells perfectly.  I will admit it took many tries to get this done.

The cabinet was also completely restored by our cabinetmaker in Italy.  The craftsmanship of our cabinetmaker is unmatched.  It is a work of art in it self!