Hello! I have some months ago restored my Aeolian Weber Player Piano,
and added the most expensive suction box kit from Player Piano Co.
Because of beginning back trouble, I decided that I some time would
get problems in the lower part of the back, when pedalling the piano.
I was lucky to encounter one of the very few Duo Art pianos in
Scandinavia, and with help from the instruction manuals sold by PPCo,
I managed to help the owners adjust it.
I decided then, that I should be able to restore and add the necessary
Duo-Art parts to my piano, since playing without expression is no fun.
You who maybe have those parts for sale, know which parts I need,
however, my first priority would be the expression box, and the adjacent
parts like Duo-Art on-off lever and so on. Some time I also want to
replace that vacuum cleaner motor from PPCo, with a bellow pump. (I built
an extra box to put the suction box into, insulated it with that stuff
you find inside old huge matrix printers, and made an exhaust, no "inhaust"
silencer (*), still it makes too much noise...)
I know I feel like a fool, buying one such suction box kit, but since I
haven't heard any negative about them here, I decided to buy one. Maybe
"The quality of suction boxes" should be discussed here, to resolve the
noise problems.
Sincerely Thomas Henden, Norway.
(*) Just use a tube let's say 1 1/2- 2 inch wide, and as long as you
have space inside the piano, in my case about 5 or 6 inches, and put
felt loosely into it, and of course inside the walls.
Use thick "fluffy" felt, and no more than it won't obstruct the
air too much. At the exhaust side, the PPCo box, has a slot along one of
the sides, near the bottom. I just let the air get out via some felt,
and a rectangular tube between the two boxes, to the top.
|