Finally!

Admit it, the suspense was just killing you, wasn’t it?

Let’s have a peek at this beast, shall we? It is pretty “Standard” fare (yea, pun intended) as far as player pianos go: there were hundreds of thousands of pianos almost identical to this one manufactured in Canada and the US. (If you want to read a blurb about where I got the piano, go back here to the start.) In this sense I am fortunate, as the more common the player system, the more reference material there is available. So, we open the lid, take off the front panel, and here we are!

Where to begin? The first time I opened up the piano and got a good look, that was the question I asked myself. I was reminded of the old question “How does one eat an elephant?” to which the answer is “One bite at a time!” In other words, we will have to break it down into organized, bite-sized tasks, in order to avoid being overwhelmed. For this, we will need a plan (forthcoming).

In the meantime, let’s see what’s under the hood. I am not really going to retread over well-worn ground, so if you want to see how to open up the piano and remove the player action, check out John Tuttle’s video here.

I will just show a few important steps to watch out for, when removing the top player action. Both the top and bottom actions are an unfortunate combination of large, heavy, awkward and yet breakable, so in my case I have help when extracting the player action.

The following photos illustrate (on my particular model of player action) what to disconnect before attempting to extract. Your piano may not be as illustrated!

There may even be another control hose connection, hiding around the back somewhere, you will have to look. When you think everything is disconnected, pull the action forward a bit, and check that there is a gap between the player fingers and the piano action wippens (shown in John Tuttle’s video above). The action must be clear of any obstacles, for a smooth extraction (which is obviously what we are after here).

Some of these hoses are tough to get off, if they are old and decrepit. There will be some wiggling involved, which may end up just severing the hose at the nipple or junction point. They will be replaced, in my case.*

The condition of hoses and pneumatics can be deceptive. Here is another picture, showing the interior condition of one of the main feed hoses. The exterior of the twill hose didn’t look so bad, but inside it is compromised –dry and crumbly.

Once the player action has been extracted, we can get a better look at both the “stack” and the piano action, to see what we’ve got.

On top of the stack, for example, there is the spoolbox which is where the piano roll goes when you want to play. Normally there is player brand identification here, but in this case that is no longer present. This is a kind of clue that tells me that there has been some past intervention in the piano, and that it is not all-original. That may (or may not) be a good sign; it all depends on what work was previously undertaken, and to what standard of care and competence.

Speaking of clues, it is fun to look for little visual “easter eggs” and try and interpret what they are telling you (I was an avid reader of Sherlock Holmes as a boy!). For instance, let’s look at the following picture. What do you see?

What I extrapolate from this picture is that the scratching on the control cover is caused by someone (presumably right-handed) who was playing at the control levers with their right hand, while hanging on to the cover with their left hand, and over time scratching the finish (and the wood!) with their fingernails.

That’s a pretty obvious one, but sometimes these clues can tell you useful things about the instrument, if you keep your eyes open.

Also, here is a detail shot of the bottom action, seen after removing bottom door of piano. The same rules of extraction apply for this part; after disconnection of hose feeds and linkages, it should come out as one unit as well. Refer to John Tuttle’s video.

Now that we have more access, we need to make a plan of attack. To be continued!

 

*If one were just doing this extraction procedure for the purposes of, say, replacing a broken string, then things become more complicated. I can tell you from experience that working on a really old piano, with really old original parts (brittle, stiff, and otherwise fragile) can be a minefield; parts may be damaged inadvertently, with despite one’s best efforts, and the owner of the piano may try to hold you responsible for these broken parts, which are well past their best-before date. It is advantageous to give a general disclaimer before digging in and taking everything apart.