Art Reblitz wrote:  [ MMDigest 980908 ]

> Carter's was good enough for the American Piano Company to recommend
> its use, and it hasn't caused me any problems yet.  Just apply it so
> thin that it doesn't stiffen the leather, make sure all of the wood
> is sealed properly, and above all, don't drag any glue onto the work-
> ing area of the pouch! I've seen more pouches that were reluctant to
> lift their valves due to a very small amount of glue on the leather
> than for any other reason.

I second this motion by Art Reblitz.  I too have used Carter's Rubber
Cement for most of my 30+ years of restoration.  I have never had any
problems with it.

I too, will never, never, ever use plastic or silicone on any player
restoration.  If it worked for the factory it will work for me.  I am
open to new ideas and substances, *but only* when they have been tested
for 50 years and passed.  I use chrome tanned leather because it has
demonstrated its ability to last 50 years.

I despise re-restoring players, but even worse would be having to
re-restore my own work.  I recently had to do just that with a bellows
system I restored in 1981 in a Standard player (my own).  I found that
Durrell Armstrong's fleece-back bellows cloth had become pinholed like
a starry night in less than 18 years.  I was appalled.  The pouches
were just fine, however.  I did replace them with chrome tanned for
posterity, before I sold the piano.

I also use egg whites anytime the pouch leather folds on itself, like
in accordion pneumatics.  It works quite well as long as you do not
totally saturate the leather and do not use eggs that are not fresh.

When you use Pledge [furniture polish] with silicone on your piano
it may look good, but try stripping and refinishing it.  The new finish
will not stick because the oil has permeated the finish, and wood.
When you put silicone rubber/caulking on something,  I would like to
see you remove it and try to paint that spot.  It won't stick long.
When you put silicone in any form on a pouch you do not know how long
the pouch will last.  Will it deteriorate faster than 50 years because
of the silicone?  And even if it did last 50 years, and it needs
restoration again, and it will, how do you get any glue to stick
to the silicone-oil-permeated wood of your pouch board.  That may be
a whole new market -- making replacement pouch boards for previously
siliconed players.

No, I am sorry, I do not need to improve on the best factory processes
of 1928.  I do not need to add any new-age plastic by any name to my
pouches to save that extra cubic nano-millimeter of air seepage, anymore
than I need to "improve" a square grand by ripping out the strings and
putting in a digital keyboard.  It may sound better to modern ears, but
it no longer sounds like a square grand.

D. L. Bullock    Piano World    St. Louis


 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ Therein lies the quandry:  Should the old square piano be changed
 [ to sound like a modern piano?  Should an instrument be restored as
 [ it was originally built, or should it be fitted with improvements
 [ which may diminish its useful life or value?
 [
 [ Should a reproducing piano (or a Victrola) be restored to play as
 [ its peers do, or should it be altered to achieve better music?
 [ Should a pneumatic mechanism in a piano be replaced with a solenoid
 [ mechanism, so that music rolls aren't needed and periodic repairs
 [ are less frequent?
 [
 [ Shall we simply restore the machine, or shall we also improve its
 [ musical performance?  Shall we maintain a beautiful (and perhaps
 [ rare) antique, or is a better-functioning musical instrument more
 [ desireable?
 [
 [ It's a difficult decision for the music-loving collector.
 [
 [ -- Robbie