Regarding Charles Hildebrant's question about the bleeds in the treble
octave of a Seeburg E stack.  The bleed is equivalent to a tiny hole
in the pouch itself.  The rule is:

* If a bleed is too big, the note won't play.  (The pouch doesn't
have enough power to lift the valve.  A hole in the pouch has the same
effect.)

* If a bleed is too small, the note won't turn off promptly.  (There
is no way for the atmosphere to be evacuated from under the pouch.)

Thus, you're right about the larger bleeds causing the notes to be
sluggish.  However, if a pouch became a little leaky it would be
necessary to make the bleed smaller, not bigger.

In practice, the pouch wells in certain Seeburg percussion mechanisms
playing commercially in a dirty environment eventually become
completely packed with dirt.  If anything, dirt packing into the pores
of pouch leather will cause it to become a little tighter, not leakier.
In a piano with a 6-per-inch tracker bar, the effect on repetition is
negligible until the pouch well is completely full, causing the valve
to quit working.

I can't get at the stack in my Seeburg E right now.  If anything,
the bleeds for the two highest octaves should be the same or a little
smaller than the rest, not bigger.

When restoring a Seeburg stack, check the integrity of the glue joint
where the bleed rail is attached.  Minute leakage will introduce
atmospheric pressure where there should be bleed suction, causing
overall poor performance.  This is usually only a problem in a piano
which has seen severe humidity changes, or in a new stack in which
the parts weren't glued together correctly.

Art Reblitz