The long march back

So, revisiting an earlier question: where to begin – the rebuild, that is? What’s the plan here, anyhow?

I feel like I have reached another early milestone in the process: a time to regain traction after the long (and arduous, as a first-timer!) process of mapping, documenting and dismantling the player action.

There are numerous ways to attack this, but perhaps the simplest way to begin is to go top-down. Or as they say in show business — “let’s take it from the top!”
My plan is to start at the “head” of the stack and move down from there. Pictured below is the tracking device, one of the first to come off the stack.

The first of many, many screws you will be removing
The first of many, many screws you will be removing

The stack (sitting in the middle level) is the most painstaking, so we will leave that for later. Looking at the “head” or top level of the action, here we find the motor, the transmission, spoolbox, tracking and small primary valve box. During the dismantle, once the hosing and tubing connecting the head to the stack have been disconnected (including the whole tracker bar supply), the head should come off in one long shelf, after the necessary mounting screws have been found and removed.

This may be a good time to remind our readers (again!) that documenting everything possible will SYA (save your ass). In the case of taking out a lot of screws (which we most certainly will be doing), screws of different shapes and sizes, and said screws should often go back in the exact holes from whence they were removed, I suggest a map. A map is a sheet of paper or boxboard (start saving all your old cereal and crackers boxes!) With screws inserted through it; the screws are identified either by words or a rudimentary diagram. Bam! It’s that simple. At the time of this writing, I am up to about 6 maps’s worth of screws, and I have not even started on the individual valves yet!

It is good practice to make screw maps in real time as you are removing screws, which will eventually number in the hundreds. This identifies and secures them, for easy reference.

Two words: screw maps
Two words: screw maps

You’ll thank me later!

Also it is good to keep in mind that screw maps and photos only capture a snapshot, sometimes more complex ideas and relationships need a good diagram to flesh them out. So sometimes you have to pick up a pen and draw it so it will make sense in your mind, both now and  a year from now if necessary. I am keeping a written journal/log along with all the digital stuff.

Can’t be too careful!

Until next time!

Player teardown: highlights

Here are some photos of teardown highlights. To reiterate my point from one of the earliest posts: take many photos! Digital storage space should not be an issue (even high quality pics don’t need to be more than a MB each), so get yourself some cloud storage and start clicking!

What’s nice about this player action is that most of the major wooden compartments are screwed and gasketed together. This means that it is generally intuitive and painless to disassemble these components, without worrying about precision saw surgery or steam baths to get things apart. Those are the fun sorts of activities you get into with some advanced projects.

So again, if you just take out every visible screw, and gently pull along the gasket line, most boxes will open to reveal the chambers within. Of course, I don’t want to give the impression it takes 10 minutes to break down the entire action (it doesn’t), but considering the alternative, it’s relatively easy, at least.

I noticed early on that the stack number was stamped on the bass side, on all components. I thought at first “gee, that seems like overkill”. Once I took everything apart and several weeks/months had elapsed, it dawned on me that these numbers were stamped there to ensure proper orientation on reassembly. Duh!

stack end

The tracker bar, in situ, seen from above. The nipples are all reinforced with a thick shellac, covered with old cloth strips. Cosmetically it is unsightly, but the shellac does serve the purpose of fortifying the nipples. You can remove it, but you really, REALLY don’t want to damage the nipples in the process.  A combination of solvents and heat (not too hot with the gun setting!) should do the job.

tracker bar in situ

Another shot showing work in progress. The rubber from the tubing had cured on the brass nipples, meaning they were on there really good. Again, a solvent (I used Varsol, some swear by gasoline!), utility knife (to slice along tubing stubs), small needle nose pliers and a wire brush to finish up is what I used in this instance.

tracker bar in progress

Opening up the valve chambers:

Inside the secondary valve chamber. This one is a split stack, due to Theme functionality.
Inside the secondary valve chamber. This one is a split stack, due to Theme functionality.
Secondary valve removed. Notice red cloth spacer has been lunch for some moths. They will all have to be replaced, with the leather facings too.
Secondary valve removed. Notice red cloth spacer has been lunch for some moths. They will all have to be replaced, with the leather facings too.

Stripping down the pump. The white squares are old gaskets made of blotter paper. It made for relatively easy removal of the various valve boxes.

trunk stripped

Primary box, taken off stack
Primary box, taken off stack

In this action the governor is not attached directly to pump trunk, but mounted underneath the keybed. For a large person like me, this involves making yourself into a small pretzel to reach the screws for the mounting brackets, in order to extract this peripheral device.

The governor, hanging out under the keybed.
The governor, hanging out under the keybed.

I will show more specific steps in further posts!