Player Piano Problems

[Jon Page]

Justin,
Old player pianos are at the brink of disintegration. Remove a hose or tube and
it is next to impossible to get a tight seal again, they are brittle 
and may break
like spaghetti strands if touched.   Of course the owner then blames 
you for its
failure because, "It play wonderfully the last time we played it". 
Yeah, 20 years ago.

In photos 2 & 3, the hose with the 90 degree flange (elbow) has 
enough hose attached
that it looks like it went to something on the stack on top, probably 
tracker mechanism or
expression (I'm not familiar with Angelus).

In photo 4, the orphaned elbow may go to the right side of the wind 
motor in photo 7.
I didn't see a governor so it is probably integrated into the 
reservoir.   But I seriously doubt
that the hose is still flexible to relocate it. If the hoses flex, reconnect.
There's always beginners luck.
But it it does start to operate, it will only show what other things 
don't work. Snowball effect.
How big of a can of worms do you want to take on?

The aged cellophane or waxed paper in photos 2, 3 & 4 is an ominous 
sign of a botched
repair.

It looks like it still has lad tracker bar tubing.  You can see the 
hardened rubber hoses in #3.

player-care.com is a good place to start, also the Mechanical Music 
Digest: foxtail.com.


This would be a good time for D.L. to chime in.

You have to be careful with players because you usually have to 
disconnect hoses and remove
items in order to tune the piano.  The old brittle hoses and tubes do 
not usually make a tight seal
(if they didn't outright break), so it won't "play right" again.  Of 
course in the owner's eyes, you
broke it.

If you do take on the frustrating task of tuning a player (God forbid 
a Duo Art console), have the
owner put on a roll and play it first to prove that it plays. Then 
give the disclaimer that once the
tubing and hoses are removed, they might not seal properly and may 
need replacement.  (You'll
often find the flanges wrapped with masking tape to try to seal the 
frozen-formed, petrified rubber
hose ends.
-- 

Regards,

Jon Page