Hi, Player pianos that are 60 or more years old are in need of complete restoration...Period! After that many years the leather, felt, and rubber-coated cloth are rotten and can no longer function like they did when the piano was built. If the player unit plays easily on rewind and barely on PLAY, it is because of one problem: The valves, faced with with thin leather are rotten and no longer able to hold suction in the Stack, or pneumatic chest with the 88-note pneumatics. When the transmission is shifted into rewind, the Stack is cut off from the suction, and the full power of the bellows is directed to the air motor only. Engage a Player Piano Technician to restore the player unit. This entails many tedious hours of rebuilding the pneumatics, their valves, (sometimes two per note), the leather gaskets, sealing the wooden wind channels, recovering the bellows, replacing flap valves, and renewing numerous bushings. Mr. Berley Antoine Firmin II Bayou La Combe, Louisiana Polyhymnia Musical Restorations (automatic mechanical Mus. Inst.)
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