The lever is there to stop to governor when the lid is closed, it wasn't part of the electrical circuit. The brass tab on the right side was one half of the battery contacts.

People that talk to themselves while they work make absolutely the BEST content. All of my personalities agree.

The most beautiful part of repair is to see and hear the joy that the item was designed for. A music mechanism defines that beauty like no other. The music that mechanism makes hasn't been heard in probably 2 or 3 decades...

What a nice mechanism. I love how things worked so well in the past without electricity at all.

I love it when you work on these older pieces. The mechanisms are fascinating to see taken apart.

Just wanted to say thank you for making these kinds of videos... Your attention to detail and respect for the past of the pieces you work on is so appreciated and satisfying the OCD corners of my mind. I think I could watch indefinitly a zoom-in of these pins pinging while the barrel rolls listening to the tune. So many hours of work/thought put on that! Thanks again and hope you stay safe and healthy.

"Who cannot like that?" You said it all. Nice video, Vince. Cheers from Greece.

Nicely done!!! 👍👍👍

The song is 'The laughing song' from 'Die Fledermaus ' by Johann Strauss. The musical box movements are still available to buy ready to put into a box etc. The lead things at 25:05 are dampers. There are on the higher notes to stop them ringing on too much or else it would be just a muddled sound like playing the piano with the damper (loud) pedal on.

Great video fantastic mechanism with the governor spinning round really nice piece of engineering that and still works to this day well it does now thanks to you. You got a real bargain something to treasure. Stay safe and see you in the next.

What a lovely item, and looked like you enjoyed working on it.

You could isolate the pins, and ground the light through them. So it would blink with the notes being played...

Hi Vince you did a great fix loved the video never got to see before how a music box mechinism works but now i know thanks to you

Thanks vince so nice to see this i always wanted one jus coz the mechanism looks so nice well done

What a nice example of TLC :) Thanks Vince.

Thanks to this channel I ha e taken on a psvita repair just waiting for it to arrive along with the parts.

I love watching you fix mechanical things

Hello Vince, I've watched your videos since your Mr Telephone days. This was one of the best. Such a joy to listen to you figure this out but the mechanical mechanism was just brilliant to see in action. Keep up the great videos

nice way to spend a Sunday in lockdown watching your videos, Brilliant Video :)

Great stuff Vince you could probably use a small dc motor in place of the governor it would slow it down with the load of the light on their...To generator power for the light.. But not worth the effort doing that....Anyways keep the videos coming as we are bored at home..

This was such a nice one Vince. Very relaxing and fascinating to watch.

The battery is 4.5 volts and is placed vertically with the contacts facing the wall of the case. One battery contact is fixed to the black cable plate and the other battery contact is free. When you open the case lid, the red wire contact touches the top contact of the battery and turns on the light.

Amazing skills. And when you think someone built that maybe 100 years ago.... Gives me goosebumps.

I agree! The broken piece was connected to the red wire and would ave been isolated from the frame much like the negative was. When it broke off it allowed it to make contact, unless it was an earth positive system, but I have only ever heard of those on very old cars. It would just take a AA or AAA batter set right in that little space.

Those little mechanisms were usually bought cheap in hardware stores and men would make these boxes for their loved ones. An interesting refurb Vince :)

Loved this one Vince. Great fix

very good so simple yet so clever

For some reason that was one of the more satisfying vids . Don't get me wrong I absolutely love watching your videos and don't miss any since i have subscribed . But working on old stuff like that is almost medicinal and calming love the vids Later

Perhaps the light flashes with the music? (Only creating a circuit when it’s touching the pins?) - also there is normally a pin sticking up from the bottom (rather than down from top), so when lid opens, it releases the governor.

Nice one my friend , that would be a great present for a child (or at least I think) I just love those old music boxes , when I was a child I remember I had Nintendo NES , but the music box was like magic to me - no battery, no electricity but still playing .

watch battery behind the bulb holder, then the lever that stops and starts the music has one wire to the bulb attached and the other connects to the whole mechanism, basically make the pivot switch stop and start the music and be the switch for the bulb

An interesting little music box,I’d say dating to the 50s at a pinch,maybe just after ww2 on the outside.they are lovely little machines with such delicate detail Thanks for bringing this to the blue mat VInce.

The blobs are tuning weights to adjust the tone frequency. The felt is used as dampener to reduce the metal scraching sound which appears on deeper notes.

What a lovely box. I wonder if it held writing things or maybe it was for cigars. The musical movement sounds wonderful when its all back inside and magnified by the box. Really interesting fix.

According to the Gueissaz website the company was founded in 1848. From what I have seen all of their products, regardless of date of manufacture, have that date on them. From photos of many mechanisms I've seen, the stop bar is bent to fit each application depending on where the box lid has a protrusion available.

About to go to bed, look at the phone and see ‘Trying to Fix’ guess bed will have to wait :)

(22:25) - Yes of course you keep all that because it was made at the factory. It's not a mod. It's part of the mechanism that stops the regulator/governor when the box lid is closed. That wiry looking thing is simply a spring. >

Shame you don’t see these today because there so fascinating

Excellent =D Wonderful look at a music box!

I believe the spinning part which is called the governor is the generator of electricity for the light bulb to go on

The bent brass tab you removed I believe is suppose to attach to the red wire and then sit between the music drum and the wood separator. The battery would then sit between the two brass tabs.

I was about to scream at you but wanted to wait to see if you figured it out. The red wire should be isolated and run to a tab separately long the top, the tab being the positive battery terminal. The black wire should be run to the tab that hangs over the actuating arm. Then the chassis of the music box should be grounded to a tab at the bottom for the negative battery terminal. That way, when you open the box, the start/stop arm (Ground) lifts up and makes contact with the tab (the one with the black wire leading to the bulb) that is hanging over it, completing the circuit. There is room next to the music box for the battery. Not sure if it is worth it, because all you are doing is lighting up the inside of a closed box. But if you have nothing better to do....maybe if you made the upper part out of white acrylic?

While that just sounded like noise to me it's nice to hear something come back to life, no matter how horrible it sounds.

What a nice video Vince! It's indeed a long time since you did a mechanical item and if you did, it was one of those talking figures. Not that they are rubish or something like that, but an item such as this music box is, like you said many times in this video, very well-made so that you can repair it quite nicely and really enjoy the working mechanism at the end. Really, I love working on this kind of mechanisms too. Besides the light bulb issue, something is not quite right with the tuning of the notes and to correct that you have to tweak those blobs on the "needles", but I guess it is not that easy to do and it is in any case veeeeeery much trial and error. So, just leave it like it is I would suggest. And oh yeah, I really was laughing when you were aligning those needles to the barrel; I've done that a few times in the past and it is really a very time consuming job; but then, when it all works, it is sooooo satisfying... Anyway, great one really, keep on doing those mechanical ones, I love it!

I like musical boxes!

What that metal wire dose is stops the music from playing until you open the juley box it stoppes the wind thing that you where talking about

been doing a little research on the mechanism and from what I can find the mechanism in use here was changed after 1948. So looking at the materials in use and the machining techniques I would place it somewhere between 1900 and 1948. the box itself could have been made any time.

The “door closed” stopper would have a side effect of reducing the life of the spring, if it is closed for long periods of time while it’s wound up.

1st class video to watch thank you take care kind regards from me kenneth

I'm glad you left the power wiring in. That's such an odd curio. :)

Music choice love it

The ninth fork from the left (as you look at it) sounds horribly out of tune to my ear. It's almost half way in between an A and a Bb. If you decide to take it apart again Vince, have a look at the felt pad and see if you can tune it. :)

This wasn't as important as the other resurrection on this day but was very interesting none the less.

I wonder if an ultrasonic cleaner would be useful for this. Pop the spring assembly in that > re-oil > profit.

This turned out to be far more interesting than I assumed it would be

Looks like a gap for a AA battery to the right of the mechanism. That brass tab was probably one terminal, the other was what the black wire was fixed to.

4m38s - note the two holes. Someone has took that off and at the very least added the notch for the (I assume) magnet clasp. How do I know? The holes are wrong way. Probably means originally it only had a hole to start/stop the music box. Someone then added the light and a hole and then finally modified it for the magnetic clasp. The post in the top looks shaped which means it probably used a clasp in the base that was “springy” to lock it. It may also be that post is the original and may have been used to operate the music box. Look for holes :) It’s also possible that surround for the music box was not originally there when the box was made. That looks like someone painted it once it was in place rather than the finish the rest of the box has. My theory is either there was no music box or it was uncovered and then boxed in, light added later and modified again for the magnetic clasp.

ICE CREAM so want an ice cream now lol, Great vid m8, so screeming at the screen lol

Chuck the bulb and wires away. Not meant to be there. The wire stops the govener when the lid is closed. Looks like someone, many years ago, made a music box out of a box! The wood under the mechanism does not look original, neither do the dividers. Still a very nice bit of history. Thank you.

Another cool vid love it

You can fix some of the scratches on the wood by putting a damp cloth over them then use an iron to make steam.

I thought the light bulb might be lit by a dynamo mechanism somehow. As for the lid brake that starts and stops the music it's so obvious in hindsight, my mother has a jewelry box that does the same thing. It's nice when it is left wound up for a week or so then when you open the lid the tune would start playing.

Thanks!

The little sprung lever is the music start stop switch, it blocks the governor to stop the music when the lid is closed

I think the light bulb was ran by a AA battery on the right side of the machine. The bras tab connected to the red wire supposed to be in the gap on top right side.

I bet the bulb was wired with a spring switch. when you close the lid the tab on the bottom of the lid opens(breaks) the circuit but when you lift the lid the contact springs back to close the circuit. Very simple.

The lamp might have been powered by a 3R12 battery. They were very common for many decades and the circuit for the light was probably was designed for the battery tabs.

The Light was a home made addition. The black wire went to the large tab of metal for one end of the Battery. the red wire has a broken tab where the original tab ( contact) would have been. Its just a crude bodge to add a light

Anyone remember when he used to do how to videos anyway great video

they try to make the light flicker to the melodie

its amazing what you can fix with some cleaning 🙂

I love musical fixes like this one and the stylophone. Would love to see an electric guitar and/or an amp on Trying to Fix. Or a keyboard.

I have been looking for something to watch for two hours and just I start watching a Grand Tour episode Vince uploads well I guess Jeremy POWER can wait

Magic, thanks!

You know, I've been thinking about the power generation thing. Even though its clear that it wasn't intended to generate power here's what I see. If the blade of the "air brake" were a bar magnet and there was a coil next to it, it could induce a current. Admittedly, it would be far too small a current for the light that's in it. But I bet if you collected that current into a capacitor, it could drive a modern LED for a little while.

Unique item vince a carpenter would be able to repair the damage quite easily but whether it would be worth it not sure

would love to see a woodworker restore the outside!

And for 10 bonus points.... Name that tune

It is a motor that pulls it around or a spring. The drum moves at a speed and the light bulb is only a light or a resistor. If the bulb is broken you must replace it.

In case you end up selling it. The music is "Mein Herr Marquis, ein Mann wie Sie" by Johann Strauss from the Opera Die Fledermaus kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jKmdfKx4rarDo5s.html

I wonder if the bulb was added during the war years for the blackouts it looks to have age

The brass piece you pulled out of the mechanism looks like it should have been attached to the red wire, it looks like there is just enough room on the right side of the mechanism for a battery. With the brass tab at the top against the wood.

Maybe you want to add a little rocker switch for the light bulb so you can turn it on and off anytime you want to

They not trying to make the light flash when a note is played? Wiring it to the teeth and barrow

if get the needle-roll on a blank spot to the fingers you have an open loop

I think the handle is horn cow or something. If you look at "horn jewelry" its really similar.

(24:35) - Just put the whole mechanism into an ultrasonic cleaner for thirty minutes, then give it a good oiling with some quality sewing machine oil. > Yeah, that watch oil is even better. >

I Personally Think (Not only for this video) You Should use your Ultra Sonic Cleaner More often it would Have done the Job Perfect :) But still nice you are Making Very Good Content keep Going ;)

The tiny bracket on the end of the black cable is from a Condenser which controls the spark to the contact-breaker points inside the distributor on old cars. I don't think the box is anywhere near as old as the mechanism.

Never seen a circuit like it, but what I have seen is a circuit that is close to that, where the circuit is completed when the Brass chiming prongs touch the barrels pins by three different coloured lights each colour was insulated from the other colours circuit, any way long story short the lights would dance as the music played, and me thinks this circuit was an attempt to hack out something like the aforementioned..

I couldn’t resist yelling at the screen over and over again that the lever stops the governor when the lid closes and things like: how do you not see this? You overthink that lever! Hahahha I think it was just your electrics orientated mind blocking you from seeing it. Good stuff Vince great video.

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The lever stops the music box when the lid is closed.

the handle is probably ivory and tortiose shell

if you look back to the begining of your video, the left most tang on the tuning fork is in use ... and not the one with the felt on ...

You went back to using the wider finger as position one?

I watched to see the 1848 light bulb :-)

Vince, It looks like they were trying to make the music box into a small generator which won't work. Or trying to add a switch so the light turns on when the lid is open. I have the music box mechanism from a small snowy pond scene music box with a small bear skating on it and the "ice" is just a mirror. If you are wondering about the alignment of the tines (the part that makes the notes) on the cylinder pins The very first and very last tines are not used for the song. Also you want to line up the tines as close and straight as you can or the music box will not sound right.

just a thought, is there a watch style battery underneath the bulb?

my mate vintage