You are of course welcome to read through the entirety of the following post (I assume that’s why you’re here), but if you would prefer to watch a video tutorial on the same topic instead, then click here. I don’t plan on going into as much detail as Art Reblitz in his book (pp 52-78), but I will at least furnish a proper introduction, to give you a taste…

First, some assumptions, pertaining to teardown:

• That the pneumatic has been carefully removed from its trunk (whether gasketed and screwed, or glued).
• That the cloth was slit lengthwise between the bellows, and then peeled back and removed.
• That your boards are sequentially numbered in pairs, for easy identification, on the inside face of each. (the inside board should also be marked on the exterior in a suitable place, if it happens that a particular pneumatic needs to be remounted in a particular location)
• That the hinge was removed from both boards, and the old hinge glue lightly sanded away.
• That any remaining cloth was scorched or smoothly sanded off, and the edges all sanded smooth.
• That all sides are square and true, and each board is precisely the same dimensions as its mate.

Starting with these two prepped boards, we will remake a pneumatic!

Let’s begin with the hinge.

First, flashback: after having removed the original hinge (perhaps long ago), you found a source of identical but new material; likely something in the ticking or twill canvass line. It really must be 100% cotton. Having measured the old hinges, you recreate them by cutting first to length (to create a strip for a whole section). You have paid proper attention to follow the orientation of the weave, so you cut in the right direction. You then crease the hinge by folding and running a warm iron over the surface. The strips may now be cut to width to create the pneumatic hinges.

Now, flashforward! Your pot of hot hide glue is at the ready. As are your pieces, organized and prepared. You may choose to insert a piece of wax paper in the hinge fold, to prevent gluing the hinge to itself.
Glue the end of each board where the hinge will attach. Pick up your hinge, place it on one board. Quickly take the other board and place it on top. Check positioning of the hinge (slight inset), and then clamp, with a medium spring clamp (I find large binder clips work well for this, and they are cost-effective!). Let dry, hinging is done.

To verify the hinge, once the glue is dry gently try to wiggle the open ends to opposing sides. If there is noticeable play, you have failed. Remove the hinge and start again, until the ends travel freely and easily to open or close, but resist any sideplay.

John Tuttle has a video on this, with a slightly different perspective. Check it out here

Now, the recovery with cloth.

Again some assumptions: you have the proper bellows cloth, with appropriate thickness for bellows size, a measuring tape, you have a nice, sharp, pair of scissors, glue pot at the ready, and if necessary a jig to speed up accurate, consistent production (e.g. this)

Cut strips for your bellows, the width of which will be slightly oversize the span of the pneumatic in question.

To recover: Lay out the strip of cut cloth (inside facing up). Position the handy jig for spacing, if you have one, over top of the cloth, offset the centre. Glue first side of the pneumatic, by which I mean both edges of the left side.  Use enough glue, but not too much.

Wait. Turn.  Glue end (open) edges. Wait. Turn again. Glue third side. Wait. Glue last side. Done.

This is a bit short on detail, but it is really meant as a procedural overview. There are other things to consider as well like carefully trimming the excess cloth from the finished pneumatic, to avoid knicking the cloth and wasting your work. Refer to Reblitz’s book or John Tuttle’s video tutorial for more in-depth information.

On to rebushing!

Now let’s look at the big picture of where we are with the motor, and what needs to happen. We have it all apart and documented, ready to begin restoration.  So let’s go!
There is not an exact order, but any time is great to clean and polish the metal hardware (screwheads, brackets, crankshaft – carefully!!), and get it out of the way. For heavy greasy grime use a rag soaked in solvent (e.g. mineral spirits). Rinse or wipe off and then polish with a nice product like Flitz or Autosol. Nice improvement!
Again, if ever you find the hardware heavily corroded, then replating or even replacement may be necessary. Depending on your location, someone who is very good (and reasonably priced) at metal plating can be hard to find, something to keep in mind!

Apart from the cosmetics, the major items on the checklist are to rebush necessary bearing points (will post on this soon), as the motor will get a constant workout. Then it is all about recovering and air sealing. The motor must be tight else the music begin to turn with a loping, queer motion, causing the music to lurch and stutter unpleasantly.
In order to be robust overall, this means the bellows, the slide valves and the trunk interior must all be tight individually.

Pneumatic recovery is a specialized topic which will be needed throughout the restoration process, so I will cover that separately in the next post.

The slide valves are basically just miniature wooden frames, covered on one side with motor cloth. Like a pneumatic, the cloth side must be well sealed. However just as important is a good seal between the trunk face and the inside of the valves. This is why both the valves and the trunk face must be lapped (a specific sort of sanding) completely and evenly smooth, so that they are well-mated to interface with each other.

The preferred way of doing this, traditionally, is to adhere a piece of sandpaper to a solid, dead flat surface, such as a piece of plate glass or machined table (e.g. table saw). This ensures the lapping will give the desired result. Use a medium machinist’s square (6-12″ long) to sight across the valve surface of the trunk face. Depending on how much warpage or gap you see, you will need to lap accordingly. If there are significant gaps (more than a couple of mm), you will have to either begin with a rough grade of paper (e.g. 80 grit). Work your way up to medium (120-180). If there are only light distortions in the surface, then you can proceed immediately with a fine grit (250-320) to just even it out, and that should suffice.

Incidentally, there is a detailed video of this process by (guess who?) John Tuttle. It’s a longer one, but worth checking out here.

We then finish up with a nice graphite lubrication, making sure not to mix it too light (or too heavy!) or put it on too excessively. Also, for valves like this which are in perpetual motion, don’t EVER use a greasy or “wet” lubricant for this application. This will eventually cause binding and performance issues. There might even be a warning sign about this from the original maker!

The interior of the trunk should be proofed for leakage too; it needs protection from all leaks within and without!

Now here we would normally use a heavy shellac; the traditional choice for sealing internal channels. I am instead going to use a “modern” substance. This sealer, trade name “Phenoseal”, is a little like a thinned white glue. It has a water-like consistency when applied, and then sets up (but does not ever cure 100%) like a clear plastic membrane.
I would only agree to use this under certain circumstances: it is a significant time-saver, it does as good (or better) a job than shellac, it doesn’t cause other problems, in exchange for this convenience.
Given this criteria, It is vital that this type of product is never applied to a surface which needs to be glued or which contacts a moving part, and it is never used on a surface which will have to be refinished/resurfaced in the foreseeable future.
This is why we don’t ever, EVER, use a white or yellow glue for adhering parts which may need to come apart again someday. It is a bastard of a job getting these parts apart, unless hide glue has been used. Modern glues have many wonderful uses, but should only be used in permanent structural repairs to woodworking – that’s it!

So, we have covered prepping, lapping and sealing; I will discuss recovering separately. We also need to talk about rebushing, but as mentioned that will be a separate post as well.

Once the recovering, gluing and rebushing is done, your hardware is all clean and polished, you are ready for reassembly, then regulation!

See you on the other side!

Excelsior!

Like Hide Glue, shellac  is another “natural” substance, the use of which is traditional in this industry and has been sanctified by time.

While it is undeniably interesting and fun stuff, it’s also just as sticky and messy as glue, so we don’t want to get too playful with it!

In player piano actions, its primary use is as a sealant. It sticks to absolutely everything, which is good if you put it only where you are supposed to! As the carrier solvent evaporates, the shellac slowly cures to a hard shell. It can be made in various concentrations to suit the purpose required.

A standard lighter body concentration is a 2 pound cut, which is 2 pounds of shellac flakes dissolved in one gallon of solvent of denatured alcohol*. If you need to finish a piece of wood with a light finish, it can be a good historically informed choice.

Medium body shellac (4-6 lb cut) can be “painted” inside of block channels to seal the wood pores against air leaks. This is what was used in factory production.

Thick shellac (as the name suggests) is simply a very thick formulation. Also called “burnt shellac”,  it’s great to reinforce a fastened joint, which can’t be glued but still need strength. An example of this would be for the arm flanges of a motor. The flanges attach to the bellows with small screws, but as they are under a constant load, they need a little extra strength as insurance. However it’s not a good idea to glue them (as they may need to be removed for repair purposes), so shellac is a good compromise. It can also be used around the junction of metal bits into wooden blocks, etc. Once cured it is airtight like the sealant, and won’t come off, unless you want it to. And here again, it is wonderfully “undoable” like hide glue. After it is completely cured, it is brittle and can be chipped away if it needs to be replaced.

This wonder substance of thick shellac can be made in two ways: additive or subtractive. Note that the finished product is not exactly the same in both cases, as explained in further detail here.

The additive way is slower, but safer. Buy yourself a bag of shellac flakes (from a woodworking supply store), and gradually add a minimal amount of solvent, just enough to dissolve the flakes. If you can get it right you will have a thick goopy mixture.
If the flakes are not mixing completely with the solvent after a long soak, try moderate heat. I put my jar in an (empty) electric glue pot for half an hour and it really did the trick!

The subtractive way is the traditional way, as the other name suggests. Premixed shellac is bought from the hardware store, then “burned off” by lighting the liquid on fire, and letting it burn for such time as that it thickens to a goopy mixture. It will cool to a thicker consistency than that which it burns, so don’t overdo it with the burn off!

For this method it is highly recommended that you do this out of doors away from combustible surroundings.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any cataclysmic events that occur after the reading of this post!

*for some strange regulatory reasons, denatured alcohol is not commonly available in my jurisdiction of Canada. One can substitute methanol (methyl hydrate, easily found), however it is important to realize that methanol has a higher volatility and evaporation rate, and the fumes apparently contain a higher toxicity level than denatured alcohol. It is not recommended to use methyl hydrate without proper ventilation; an approved and rated respirator mask will help you err on the side of safety, which is a very good thing!

A specialty woodworking or chemical vendor should be able to supply proper denatured alcohol, or another appropriate product. For example, Lee Valley has a shellac thinner on offer, which although not the most cost effective, can work well if need be.
Do your homework and shop around!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

Hot hide glue is the ideal glue for many applications in instrument repair and rebuilding, and it has been the adhesive of choice for centuries, until the rise of synthetic glues in the 20th Century.

For wood to wood or leather to wood applications, HHG in this context is hard to beat! A quick rundown of pros and cons:

Pros:

• sets up quickly, allowing a higher rate of productivity
• depending on nature of joint, high tack means clamping is often not required
• viscosity can be adjusted (somewhat) to purpose
• dries to form a “brittle” joint, which does not creep
• water soluble, so completely reversible

Cons:

• sets up quickly, so workflow must be organized beforehand and executed efficiently!
• needs constant source of heat at steady temperature, to maintain working temperature
• water soluble, subject to moisture infiltration and therefore not suitable in warm environments with elevated humidity

So we can see that HHG has a couple of characteristics which may either be good or bad, depending on how we look at it.

The property of reversibility is a huge plus, where restoration is concerned. It allows a rebuilder to dismantle and break apart wood and leather joints without excessive damage to the constituent parts. And by rebuilding in the same manner, it pays forward the same courtesy to future restorers.

To make use of HHG, you need three basic ingredients: glue granules (sold at suppliers to fine woodworking trade), water, and heat. The source of heat can be any number of things, but again it should be a source of steady heat.

For me personally I have gotten my glue granules from Lee Valley or from Player Care. For the glue pot I use the industry standard “Hold Heet” automatic glue pot, from Emco. It’s available at any number of places online, and it’s the only glue pot you’ll ever need.

Happy gluing!

Located on the head, the motor is a key component of the player action. The motor is what transduces rotational kinetic energy from air pressure. In other words, you pump pedals with your feet, which creates air pressure differentials in the system (which the system is designed around).
Then, these differentials in pressure cause the motor valves to repeatedly open and close, which in turn causes the crank arms to turn the crankshaft in a smooth and predictable way. The crankshaft engages the transmission (via ladder chain), which is connected to the spoolbox flanges. The roll starts to turn, and the magic happens!

In a visual sense, the motor is also the centrepiece of the upper action, due to the dynamic motion which draws the eye, from the music roll and back again.

As I will do with each component, after the parts restoration is complete, a thorough test and troubleshoot will be performed, to verify the functionality of the piece.

Let’s take a step back for a moment. Due to its position on top of the action, the motor is one of the most accessible components, and was among the first to be removed and disassembled. In fact, sometimes the motor must be removed or at least shifted during routine piano maintenance such as tuning or broken string replacement.

This particular model is a fairly standard 5-pt motor, quite reminiscent of Autopiano style. It consists of a main trunk, 5 slide valves and 5 pneumatic bellows. The trunk is essentially a wooden box with a precise design of holes drilled to create channels and ports. On the face of the trunk are the slide valves, which control whether a given pneumatic is opening or closing at a given moment. On the back, the pneumatics are mounted. Both the slide valves and the pneumatics are connected by flanges to the crankshaft, mounted above the trunk. As the bellows open and close in sequence, each bellows flange (connected via a crank arm to a lobe on the shaft, offset 72 degrees from its neighbor) pushes the crank on the power stoke, so that the crankshaft is always following a smooth rotation (assuming the motor is properly regulated – more on that later). In this manner the music roll renders its performance in a seamless way.

And now the dismantle. As with the spoolbox, the key here is just to start by taking out every visible screw, one by one, while documenting extensively your actions! We don’t want to get off on the wrong foot here!
It should all come apart without too much effort. If there is one component in this action which is meant to be serviced, it is the motor. Some photographic highlights of teardown:

After unscrewing and carefully separating everything the only thing remaining is the bellows on the trunk. Record the span (they should all be the same), and then take them apart. Slit the cloth lengthwise along the sides and open end. Rip the hinge apart and separate the boards (how violent!). You will have to knock or steam off the stationary boards. Whether you are tackling the motor or the stack, the same principles prevail. Once again, John Tuttle to the rescue with a video on this topic:

John Tuttle removes pneumatic boards

Once the surgery is over, it’s time to clean and sand all the boards (keeping them all equal dimensions and perfectly square), and the trunk back. Since we are just talking about 10 boards here (5 pairs of bellows), it’s up to you whether you prefer the hand sanding option or power tools. I don’t have a belt/disc power combo at present, so that’s an easy one for me. And it doesn’t take a lot longer. But when it will come time for all the stack pneumatics, that will be a different story. In the meantime, to do boards these by hand, get a nice flat surface (plate glass), slap some 180 grit paper down, put a jig (a simple 2×4 cutoff will work, if square), and sand that sucker straight and true. Repeat.

As for power tools, here’s an observation: the wonderful thing about them is that results happen extremely quickly, compared to hand work. Know what else happens extremely quickly? Mistakes! As Peter Parker once said, with great power comes great responsibility. You must know and respect your machine, or it will take advantage of you, damaging your work, and even your body if you are not careful — you have been warned!

See directions for this procedure (similar, but not identical) on the front, in a follow up post. No power tools needed there.

Then, you will finally be done the dismantle! Come back next time!

So let’s see here… in terms of the “head” of the player action, I think I will actually just begin with the clean up of the spoolbox hardware and transmission, before moving on to the first significant challenge — the motor!

The hardware on the spoolbox should be intuitive to remove after some examination – it was for me. Most things are just screwed. Depending on how deep into it you want to get, you can remove every single screw and bolt for maximum cleaning possibility (or you may need to replate if there is significant corrosion – hopefully not!), but by so doing you also undo carefully calibrated set screws which join different rods or gears together. Given the choice it can be a real time-saver (at the time of reassembly and troubleshooting) to have these coupling screws remain intact. I am saving mine where possible. There is a nice little silver lining here, in that the number of calibrated linkage points are not as numerous as other actions; so even if you realize later that you’ve bungled the documentation on the teardown, at least you won’t have 30 calibration points to try and coordinate and harmonize.

Cleaning the hardware is necessary for function, but also cosmetically pleasing. My philosophy on the cleaning of original finishes (on metal or wood) is that leave everything intact where possible with historic patina, but do remove all surface dirt and grime, so it is at least “clean”. Some people really like to replate hardware and refinish piano no matter what, so that it looks “factory fresh”. I don’t feel this is necessary at all (unless original finishes are seriously compromised), but some people do. It’s simply a difference of opinion and aesthetics.

On my spoolbox there are two levers connected to slide valves which are on/off switches for the pedal and theme relays, from the tracker bar. In other words, if you want to “turn off” the input holes in the tracker bar for the pedal or theme function, you can do so here. The theme switch is probably the more useful of the two; if you have simple 88-note rolls with no theme coding, then there is no point in having the switch activated. The levers themselves are inside the spoolbox next to the next to the take up spool, but they are only part of the rotary valves which are actually mounted from the bass exterior side of the box. See here:

I already discussed the tracker bar in the previous post (briefly), so let’s move along to the transmission. Transmissions work in conjunction with the converted rotational energy of the motor, to make roll turn smoothly, and then rewind at the conclusion of the roll. Additionally the transmission is connected with the tracking mechanism, which is another important device for smooth play of the roll. More on that later.

The transmission is a collection of metal shafts, sprockets, pinions, gears and chains, all mounted on a metal frame which is either stamped or cast. Metal which has been poorly cast has a tendency to oxidize and crumble over time (e.g. a century), so if you have the misfortune of an otherwise potentially nice action with a ruined transmission frame, you have little choice but to source a replacement.

Stamped actions are not without inconveniences. In my case, there is no way to disassemble the frame, as it was riveted together (a short-sighted cost savings). The following picture illustrates why this is a problem, when trying to remove the pinion shaft.

There are seven points of business on this shaft. There is not enough clearance to slide away the pinion (4) or large sprocket (5) so that the Woodruff key (3) can be extracted. The solution suggested to me by John Tuttle was to spread, gently but firmly, the frame apart to gain a few extra mm to accomplish this. It was a bit tricky, but with some snap-ring pliers and medium wooden shims, I was able to make it work.

Once that was done, the bottom shaft also gave me some trouble, because the set screw of the large gear had “buggered” (technical term) the shaft; overtightening caused a circular burr to form around the screw, and the burr makes the shaft very reticent to release the gear. Again some elbow grease is the answer, but it needs to be done the smart way – not carelessly! Support the frame with some wooden blocks and tap out the shank enough so it becomes free. You can then file a small groove in the damaged part of the shank, and replace the set screw (credit for this idea, also John Tuttle).
After the pieces have all been cleaned (with solvent), polished, rinsed (if necessary), and buffed, you are ready for reassembly! Yay!

Once it is all back together, you can set it aside for now or put it back on the head shelf. Once the other head components are ready, it all must be put back together and calibrated.

Oh yes, don’t forget the lube! Traditionally this has been graphite-based lubricant, but this can turn into a sticky, gummy mess over time. Even 3-in-1 Oil attracts dust. I was recently recommended to try Marvel Mystery Oil, which is an automotive additive. It is supposed to lubricate well, and as its viscosity is on the low side it doesn’t get so gummy. We’ll see how it works!

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 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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

Opening up the valve chambers:

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.

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.

I will show more specific steps in further posts!

Now we turn our attentions back to the main event – the player action!

I had already spent considerable time familiarizing myself with the general principles of pianola operation, and then further time with the particulars of my own action. As noted in my “Planning” post, I have got a general plan mapped out with my block diagram, tubing diagram, and master checklist. Now to do what I did with the piano and its action, and check all the player components over. This will accomplish several goals: to better understand the functionality of each component, to verify I have all the materials I need to rebuild, and to check all the components for breakage or damage. In the event of damage (which can be something as simple as stripped screw holes), then I need to repair before I rebuild. These are separate yet interrelated tasks! Any component which is damaged cannot be successfully restored, obviously.

As mentioned previously this action has a high degree of similarity to the pervasive Standard action, with elements of Autopiano and Aeolian action seemingly thrown in. It is interesting to note as well that this action is what we might call (in the vernacular) an “expression” piano; it is capable of more nuances than a standard 88-note player, but still not as advanced as a reproducing piano. So on a scale of 1-3, this piano is roughly a 2 (this scale is probably not linear; it is a rather shorter distance from 1 to 2 than it is from 2 to 3!).

In practical terms, this means extra components to take apart, figure out, rebuild and troubleshoot. In the long run, this additional effort will be worth it!

At least I think I finally have a handle on how this action is all supposed to work, including the mysterious boxes mounted on the trunk. They have to do with the extra expression elements, like “Theme” accents and user-activated button controls, for softer or sustained notes. As this is my first player restoration, there is a lot of reading and thinking involved, to get these ideas clearly solidified in the brain!

With regard to the materials, I am still in the rough at present. I had ordered all obvious parts last year, pertaining to the easily accessible and visible components on the piano. This means things like tubing, hosing, pneumatic cloth, leather nuts, and a few other odds and ends. However, I had some limitations. One limitation is that I had not yet taken the necessary (and considerable) time to break down each component. So I could not see inside the stack, for example. The secondary valve chamber has components which are specific to this particular model, as it turns out. This leads to the other limitation: sourcing parts. There was a time when you could order most everything you could conceivably need for a player piano from a single supplier to the trade. That time is no more.

In an earlier post, I mentioned sources of information. One was John Tuttle, purveyor of Player Care website. As it happens John also supplies materials and select parts to the hobbyist and layperson, he is probably the best, first place to look. The professional piano technician (e.g. me, hehe) has access to trade suppliers, such as Schaff, Pianotek, Pianoforte Supply and Pianophile (essentially Canadian reseller for Schaff). Of these it is really only Schaff (Pianophile) who carries any significant amount of player supplies and parts. And their current catologue of offerings (at time of writing) is diminished from earlier times. They are no longer a “one stop shop” for player rebuilding.

A pertinent point here is cost: even though parts and materials cost is vastly inferior relative to labour cost on a player rebuild, it is still not negligible: you can expect to spend easily between $500 -$1000 on parts (professional supply rate) on all necessary supplies to replace all perishable components of the player action. Tubes, hoses, felt, leather, etc; all these parts are specially made, and the supply sources are decreasing, meaning costs will continue to climb over time.

Anyhow, I had already ordered most of the tubing/hosing/cloth from Schaff, so I had that on hand. I had held off on getting leathers, as I had to calculate everything for my gaskets and valves. Now that having been done, I will put an order in at Columbia Leathers. They are the recommended supplier by John Tuttle for player pianos. And mercifully John has connections to make certain custom parts, like blotter gaskets for secondary valve seats, for example.

I know the spirit of DIY is so very important, and some might say: “why not just make your own? It’s cheaper!” While it may be true that technically, yes I could just order the paper and then attempt to stamp or cut out 100 identical gaskets from blotter paper — how much time would that take me, to get a comparable result? How much is your time worth? Is it really cheaper after all? That’s for you to decide, friend!

After taking everything on the player apart for examination, I don’t see any obvious repairs that are going to need to be made.  Nearly all the screws seemed solid (counterintuitively: tighten all screws neatly before unscrewing for dismantle; you want to discover repairs long before the moment you try to put your rebuilt parts back together!), so addressing stripped screw holes should be a minimal exercise. And with no other breaks or cracks in the wooden parts, I think I will just move along.

I will follow up with a post highlighting key teardown moments.

So, I need to follow up with some loose ends on the piano. And this post should probably include some photos too, Lord knows I have been taking them assiduously, following the good advice of those who know.

I mentioned not long ago that I am really trying to work with the piano (body and piano action) “as is” as much as possible. My focus is the player action rebuild, and I have explained why.
So now that the piano is all cleaned up and everything has been taken out for inspection, what did I find?

In summary (piano overall, not including player action components):

• Most parts worn, but remain fairly usable in current condition (this includes strings)
• Keys need cleaning, capstan polish, and bushings need “freshening” (see below)
• key frame pins (front and center pins) need polish and lube
• hammers need “carding” or filing to erase string grooves and help rebalance tone
• a few hammer brass butt plates to replace
• center pins (at least 4 sets: hammers, wips, stickers, dampers) need lubrication (wet)
• action contact points (e.g. sticker felts, damper lever spoon felts, butt leather) need lube (dry)
• damper felts likely need replacing, then regulating
• renew trapwork (replace all bearing bushings, and lube)
• alignment and tightening all action flanges
• complete regulation of keyboard and action
• other misc. (in my case bridge repair and case finish touch up –see below)
• lastly, tuning + voicing (TBD)

Just a reminder that (for the purposes of this project) I have opted to refurbish the piano, not rebuild or remanufacture it. But even though I am just doing a refurb job on this piano, you can see there is still a lot here – many hours of work ahead on this part!

Most of what I have outlined above is garden variety stuff, so I won’t elaborate too much there. I will just provide a few pics of the overall process:

But then there were a couple of particular things which do bear mentioning. Regarding the butt plates: actions with this brass rail hammer system (common during the first part of the player era) may be in for a rude awakening, starting in the near future. After a century (or more), these brass rails and plates have stiffened over time; they are brittle and often weakened. They begin to break, one by one. The dwindling amount of piano suppliers do still stock these plates, but they are now considered “one size fits all”, which they actually don’t.

So if they don’t work with your rail, or if the rail teeth themselves start to break, well, you are rather snookered. Or at least seriously inconvenienced. If you can’t salvage other parts you may be in for a wholesale replacement and conversion of the rail to conventional hammers and flanges. This is not the end of the world, but again: not convenient. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with this at present.

There are some things that I am sliding on here, and on the fence about as well. In most cases pianos of this age need everything replaced, including all action felts (for example). In my case I am just going to massage/fluff them a little, with a bristle brush. Then a little dry lube (where necessary) to give them a powdery smoothness.

The dampers should also be replaced, but I am still deciding about that. They are functional but noticeably hard, which gives them an undesirable percussive sound when they reset. Probably will have to bite the bullet on this one.

In terms of regulation it won’t be possible to nail everything because we are not working with fresh parts. I can certainly calibrate it to a reasonable tolerance notwithstanding, but just be aware that complete regulation is best done with fresh parts.

A special note about regulating the keyboard on a player is that often the keys are weighted differently than on a standard piano. They are front-weighted so that they fall when a corresponding note is triggered by the player action. This lets the audience see the keys move along with the music, as if the piano were being played by a ghost. When during regulation the capstans must be adjusted, bear in mind that there will be no “lost motion” as they are pressing up into the wippens, due to the front-weighting. Make sure you make this adjustment before levelling your keys!

Bridge repair: the only belly work type-stuff I need to get into is some slight bridge repair. During the original manufacturing of the bridge, if the builder did not align the grain of the wood correctly, the pins went in to wood which was comparatively weaker. Fast-forward 100 years, and the pins have been deflecting string tension all that time! Sometimes the pins will start to tear out of their original holes, particularly toward the end of a bridge. This is ruinous to the speaking of the strings and tunability of the instrument.

Fortunately, in my case the damage seems minimal. Just a half-dozen or so loose pins with enlarged holes. The thing for this is to loosen and tuck away the strings over that part of the bridge, take out the pins from the affected holes, mix-up some five-minute epoxy (put in glue syringe if available), fill the holes, clean up spillage, reinsert pins, clean some more. Double check spacing/alignment issues before the epoxy finishes setting up, and you’re done!

The rest of the piano-specific items are fairly garden variety, so those can be researched and discussed elsewhere.

Now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming!