Autopiano Horror Story
By Karl Ellison
Jon Page wrote a cryptic statement about his age:
> 2/13/51 (that's 46); but after working on last player: 87
After returning to graduate school in 1994, I found that I didn't have the time or -- when it came to the finer valve work -- the expertise to finish the job of restoring my 1917 Autopiano stack. I hired a local well-known Connecticut rebuilder to take over. He charged the greater of the two I talked to ($2500 for a complete rebuild), had a waiting list and was in the business for 40 years, so he must be good! The only condition I gave was that there be only hide glue where appropriate, and no "space-age" materials. I think I made this real plain to him.
After months of work, one day when I stopped in to see what the heck was taking so long, he told me that the primaries can't be made to work. He had re-done them three times and many just won't work. He said the only thing to do now was to bypass them. Feeling deep-down that this was a cop-out, I agreed.
I wasn't about to suggest to the Pope how to give Mass -- he knew best. Over a year later, he was done. He made it very clear that he put in $10,000.00 of labor, but he'd be gracious and stick to our original agreement. What a guy!
The stack work wasn't the tightest. I searched for leaks and it seemed like it was the stack. The builder explained how the sap lines in old wood dry up so that a panel simply becomes porous, and there's nothing to do beyond shellacking and humidifying.
Recently the stack experienced catastrophic failure. Notes ciphered by the handful. Not having the space to work in my temporary Massachusetts digs, I put out a plea for local rebuilders on the MMD. Within the many responses I received from all of you, Jon Page send me his address. I removed the stack from my piano, and I met Jon a few weeks later.
Jon and I began to disassemble the stack. It was found that the primary valves were bypassed in such an invasive manner that it was initially thought that the channel board would need replacing. Next the secondaries were inspected, with PVC-E glue sealing the valve plates to the valve chest. What a mess!
Hmmm... let's take a look at a valve. The inside valves had shiny facings that had a tacky feel to them. The outside valves had those infamous neoprene sponge-rubber facings (we could see them from the outside). This system also uses stem grommets to regulate the travel of the inside valve. One side didn't have any brass grommet to hold it in place. There was just a pink sponge-rubber grommet holding the valve on one side. In fact, they all were like that. This must be the cause of the mass-failure!
In addition to correcting the slipshod work that had been performed in Connecticut, Jon helped me correct some major flaws in my Autopiano player, like pouch wells that weren't deep enough. Jon noticed that the primary boards weren't 'true' and ran them through a plainer/joiner (this was why the other guy couldn't get them going!).
He hand-made patent-leather secondary facings, since PPCo only supplies the neoprene faced outside valves, did unsolicited work on my spoolbox motor and sundry adjustments, and a handful of other adjustments and improvements.
The tracker didn't work well at all, so he took that apart and found that there were 2 bleeds missing from the bottom pouches that logically should be there but weren't. He drilled and installed them, and the tracker works really snappy now!
Today, the system plays better than it ever did. It's finally a joy to play! I'm grateful for finding Jon Page. He is a down-to-earth, personable, innovative, conscientious craftsman that takes the time to get things right. (I hope my check cleared, Jon. ;)
Karl B. Ellison, Ashland, Massachusetts U.S.A.
5/29/62 = 34
Guess: 49.9
KBEllison@aol.com - http://members.aol.com/kbellison/kbe.html
[ That's a great story, Karl. I'm proud that we have techs of Jon's
[ caliber here with us sharing their expertise. I hope, too, that
[ the frustrated tech in Connecticut will join us -- this is a good
[ place to learn! (But with all your agony, didn't you age a few
[ decades, too? ;) -- Robbie |
(Message sent Sat 15 Feb 1997, 15:20:12 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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