Art:  I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article.  It's the fine
details that make or break any musical performance: the player devices,
the piano and instruments, and the roll it plays, plus _regulation_.

For those of you that haven't got the second edition of Art's book,
"Piano Servicing, Tuning and Rebuilding", check it out.  You will learn
something -- I did!

More often than not, many rebuilders stop short, not feeling the effort
is worthwhile; I have seen "restored" players offered -- with original
valve material, loose pins, rusty strings, and all sorts of other
maladies -- and sold as 'restored'.  Often, I find myself with the
uncomfortable job of having to explain why this "restored" piano will
not hold a tuning, is hard to pump, etc.

Once, I actually had a rebuilder confess to me that he replaces all
H. C. Bay, Gulbransen, and two-tier Wurlitzer actions with a modern
plastic pneumatic action because they are "too hard to rebuild", and
then he rips out the pumps out to install an electric motor, because
the modern replacement was by design ... leaky!

The fact is, any of the above named actions will pedal pump and work
well, far better than what was installed in this case.  In my opinion,
the value of these players are ruined, in spite of the "toy" drums and
other "rolling chuck wagon sounding things" that happens to be stuck
in there to hoodwink the public into thinking that they are buying
a valuable machine.

It's always refreshing to hear a well regulated sounding instrument,
but I would say that less than 15% of the instruments restored today
perform like they were designed to.

Everything has to work together, perfectly.  That is why I don't do
"patch up" rebuilds.  Earlier, I tried that; one thing after another
went wrong, and I found myself always working on my first player,
wasting far more time (and money) than if I had just done it right
to began with.  I have made it a policy not to "nickel and dime"
my customers, repairing one thing after another.  Although I have
been asked to do a partial rebuild, I have always declined.

Money earned for rebuilding is of course, important, but should never
be the first thought.  Musical quality should be the net result of any
rebuilding job.  The days of rebuilding a player action and just
putting it back in the piano is over.

Regulation is a most important step as well.  If a piano has new felts
and buttons, it should be played often to pack the new cloth and felt
down, because it will become seriously out of regulation fairly
quickly.  This is also a good way to help stabilize a newly strung
piano.  I call this "breaking in" the piano.  It is very important
to have the piano as stable (in all aspects) as possible before it is
delivered to the customer.

Many player systems have been proclaimed "no good" by rebuilders.  One
very good player action that has got a bad rap is the Steger Artemis.
This action has its valves suspended by a piece of zephyr skin, and
the valves don't always pull tight.  There are several ways around this
problem, including replacing the valves with Standard-type valves and
guides.  The old Artemis is still playing, and it's as tight as any
other player.

Of course, I don't advocate redesigning a proven design just for the
sake of doing so.  Usually, you will end up in trouble if you make a
habit of monkeying around with a proven design.  But always keep a
cautious and open mind for possible improvements.  Always test your
idea in actual operation first.  Sometimes something that looks like
it will work on paper will not work in practice.

"Every time you try to save ten minuets on a rebuild by taking
a shortcut, it will cost you two more hours"

Cheers
Andy Taylor
Tempola Music Rolls