Hippocratic Oath
By Stan Rhine
Jody,
Congrats on the addition to the family & the continued good work here. You are welcome either to use or file the following as you see fit.
Many MMD correspondents have espoused a feeling of responsibility to posterity in the restoration of instruments that is reminiscent of the oath of Hippocates ("First, do no harm"). One could only wish that all of those attempting rebuilding would hang that admonition above their workbenches. A while ago, I agreed to rebuild a Standard player unit. It was only when I opened the secondary valve chest that I found every valve plate had been sealed against leakage with a thick ring of carpenter's glue.
After days of peeling, prying, chipping, snapping & sanding, it seemed like time to tackle a simple job; recovering the motor pneumatics. But each one was elevated about 1/16" from the mounting surface, held there by a blob of slightly pliable white stuff, apparently bathtub calking, applied directly over filaments & chunks of pneumatic boards left adhering to the surface. Despite great care, only 1 of the 5 pneumatics could be removed without considerable damage. More of that nasty stuff can be seen protruding from beneath the striker pneumatics. There is also red rubber glop & gray epoxy sprinkled about, perhaps a post-rebuilding attempt to reduce leakage. The owner says it took a lot of effort to pump...
Next time, I'll be more careful about accepting an "easy" job. The previous rebuilder? I'm reminded of the experience of Mark Twain, who after being sold a bucking horse described as gentle, said that he would gladly postpone all other amusements to attend the funeral of the man who sold it to him.
Stan Rhine
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(Message sent Thu 24 Oct 1996, 18:33:32 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
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