Quality of Pneumatic Cloth
By Thomas Henden
> Subject: Pneumatic cloth
>
> In my opinion, anytime you are not satisfied with a product, you should
> attempt to get your money back. However, in this case, it may be very
> difficult to prove that the material is "defective".
I have now examined the cloth further and would like to adjust my obervations in the previous letter a little. The little leakage that is, seems to come through the porous wood in the pneumatic leaves. I was just very surprized that the cloth had such a dry and brittle surface. I have however added some silicone spray to the outside of some bellows, and then the rubber turns soft and black as it should be. The cloth now also seems to crease more evenly instead of being "broken" in the folds possibly making holes in the rubber.
(Do not add silicone INSIDE the pneumatic channels, or on anything else inside, or on leaky old bellows, the silicone will make dust clog to anything inside. Leaky old bellows are also too late to preserve...)
Since the pneumatics now are looking OK I would not like to bother Player Piano where I bought the cloth, by a complaint on something that was easily fixed by me. Their business is running on low resources due to not so fortunate business the last years. It is in everyones interest that they survive. I will suggest that it is best to be forgiveable if something from them maybe have been stored a little too long, but still can be preserved (eg. mink oil for leather) The pouches, and valve leather and everything else that I bought for the restoration looked excellent, and it were similar in colour and making, about 70 years after the original production of the piano!
> Recently, I started buying my striker pneumatic cloth from Player Piano
> Co. Their "kangaroo" cloth is quite a bit softer than Schaff's or
> APSCO's cloth. My wife, Pandora, who builds all the striker pneumatics,
> says it's very easy to work with because it is "more supple and
> forgiving" than the harder cloths.
You are lucky to have your WIFE help you with the "tricky handwork", everyone else have to do everything themselves. ;-)
Sincerely Thomas Henden
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(Message sent Thu 31 Oct 1996, 16:53:16 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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