Dealing With Old Organ Music

[Martin Cooke]

A lot of my music is well over 30 years old and showing every sign of it - covers off, tears at the corners, tatty edges etc. Has anyone any experience of anything out of the ordinary for repairs? I see that Sellotape have a new product called Sellotape Invisible Tape which they say doesn't crack and which is ideal for old documents. Has anyone any advice on this matter? Also, does anyone have their music re-bound these days? I've got some beautifully bound old albums which I've bought in 2nd hand book shops over the years and I wonder whether it's worth having a few trusty volumes done.

[DQB123]

A lot of my music is well over 30 years old and showing every sign of it - covers off, tears at the corners, tatty edges etc. Has anyoen any experience of anything our of the ordinary for repairs? I see that Sellotape have a new product called Sellotape Invisible Tape which they say doesn't crack and which is ideal for old documents. Has anyone any advice on this matter? Also, does anyone have their music re-bound these days? I've got some beautifully bound old albums which I've bought in 2nd hand book shops over the years and I wonder whether ity's worth having a few trusy volumes done.

A lot of the problem with Sellotape is the tendency for it to go brown and then to dry up and fall off - leaving messy brown marks on the paper! My organ teacher always told me never to use it, so the new stuff may be an improvement? I'd be very interested to know what solutions there might be too....

 

I have used comb binding in the past to keep my scores alive, and a photocopier is also a handy piece of kit for making running repairs.

[andyorgan]

I had a few old Bach volumes that I've been using for near on 25 years that had seen better days, but was reluctant to invest in new copies as they had all my pedalling, fingering, teachers markings etc. So I took them to a small book binding company to deal with not far from here (I think they were in Poole?). Firstly, he didn't like my previous attempts at repair, selotape, and clear scotch tape being not good and took some removal. However, once he had done that, he has beautifully rebound them and made them hard back, which means they are now much more sturdy. Cost per volume wasn't far short of a new copy, but I think this has been money well spent. THey also stay on the music stand much better. I'm about to go back with the remaining four Bach volumes and my Buxtehude.

[davidh]

See

http://biblion.co.uk/pdfs/Brodart/BookRepairManual.pdf

and

http://www.care4books.com/

[Vox Humana]

Sellotape have a new product called Sellotape Invisible Tape which they say doesn't crack and which is ideal for old documents.

This sounds a similar product to Scotch Magic Tape which I have used. This is (as good as) invisible when applied and doesn't become yellow with age, or as brittle as ordinary Sellotape. However, it does crack eventually if used as a hinge. It seems best for repairing page tears, which IMO it does very well.