Technical Opinions Sought - Adding bells...
By Stephen Kent Goodman
Hi group;
I am considering adding a 25-note set of bells to a client's foot-pumped player.
It (the player) is a double valve Standard action, plenty of vacuum to spare with a good rebuilding and wood sealing. Having never added an additional instrument stack to a foot-pumped player before, I was planning on adding a customized WurliTzer photoplayer bell action, left over from several duplications made for other clients some time ago. This has standard (secondary-type) valves and looks as though a simple t-tubing from the piano's primaries should do the trick. The on-off is done by an under-the pouch channel which is exposed to vacuum for "on" and atmosphere for "off" (you WurliTzer rebuilders know the type). An Ampico switch under the keybed operates it.
My questions are:
1) do you think, assuming the rebuilding job is done properly,
that there will be enough vaccum generated by average pumping to
effectively operate a WurliTzer single-strike bell unit AND
maintain the reserve needed to handle BIG chords and fully
arranged 88n rolls?
2) Is the standrad valve WurliTzer stack (for the bells) the most
efficient for vacuum economy this situation, or perhaps would a
Seeburg-reverse valve style be better (as found in Seeburg single
strike xylophone actions)?
3) I assume a small secondary reserve should be added to the bell
playing stack- and left under constant vacuum. Should this be
of any special design? What about spring tension- adjustable or
fixed?
4) Is even adding an extra instrument to a foot-pumper realistically
pneumatically doable?
Thanks in advance for your input!
S.K.Goodman
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(Message sent Fri 22 Nov 1996, 19:04:31 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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