Ref: Materials for Rebuilding.  In Digest 980411 Ed Gaida wrote:

> A lot has been written through the years about various materials used
> in rebuilding the pneumatic units of player pianos.  <snippage>

> Perflex was hailed as the perfect replacement for tan pouch leather.
  <more snippage>

> The Austin Organ Company could probably write a book about using
> Perflex in pipe organs, as they had to replace it with what they
> still use to this day: tan pouch leather.  The glue used for Perflex
> is difficult to remove from wood and makes nasty mess.

They, and a LOT of others of us who were duped by the DuPont
Company into believing that Perflex (especially pre-stamped pouches
manufactured and marketed by the Klann Organ Supply Company in
Virginia) was the universal answer.   We also had to re-leather an
instrument; even before it was finished in situ!

> I am sure that the tanning methods of today are not as good as they
> were 100 years ago, but tan pouch leather in my opinion is still the
> best replacement for pouches.

Actually,  on the pipe organ side of things, anyway, that's not true.
Pioneering research by chemist Harley Piltingsrud was done several
years ago; which methods were adopted by specialty leather tanners to
produce leather specifically for pipe organ (and other musical
instrument use) and marketed by Columbia Organ Leathers in Pennsyl-
vania.  This leather is certified, in terms of tanning technique, and
is the best available today.

Columbia has a web-site at:

    http://www.columbiaorgan.com/cow/col-menu.html

By the way, I'm in no way connected with Columbia, but thought that
there may be folks on this list who would appreciate this information.

Faithfully,

Richard Schneider, President
Schneider Pipe Organs, Inc., Organbuilders
Post Office Box 137, Kenney, IL   61749-0137
tel (217) 944-2454 ; fax (217) 944-2527
arpncorn@davesworld.net