Gulbransen Valves
By Bruce Hannover
Work is progressing nicely on my glued stack (now separated) Gulbransen Player Piano. The decks have been sanded and sealed and the pneumatics have received new pouches, lifter disc spacers and pneumatic cloth. It all checks out fine with the pneumatics reglued (with hot animal glue) to the deck boards.
The valves are working extremely well, however a nagging question persists and I hope someone on the digest might be able to clear up this question:
Do I really need the blotter-paper spacers if the valve travel is so great as to make contact with both the brass lower seat and the upper wooden ring seat?
What would the advantage be in using the blotter-paper spacers to get increased travel? Is there a substantial increase in air flow if the spacers are used, and is it beneficial to the operation of the valves?
I appreciate your responses as this is my first restoration of a player piano. I am attempting to keep everything faithful to the original design and to make the final product appear as original as possible. Thanks to everyone, especially Durrell Armstrong and his folks, who have helped so far.
Bruce Hannover
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(Message sent Sun 26 Jan 1997, 15:12:54 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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