Hi Berley, Thank you very much for your reply. I will show it to the owner of the piano when I return there tomorrow. I am sure she will not want the expense of having it rebuilt. Terry Beckingham At 08:33 PM 8/19/99 -0500, you wrote: >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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