I recently went to a friends house to hear his recently rebuilt
American Welte.  I was surprised to hear the whine of a turbine pump
emanating from the instrument.  I crawled underneath and saw what was
obviously a Player Piano Company (PPCo) unit installed underneath.

When I asked the owner why it was there he said that the person doing
the rebuilding considered the corrosion on the original pump to be so
bad that the replacement was warranted.

Is this common?  Are Welte turbine pumps rebuildable?  I see no mention
of a rebuilding procedure in Art Reblitz' book.  This was a rather
small grand and I could see that a rotary pump would not fit inside.
Would it have made more sense to install an external rotary pump
instead?  Were the original Welte turbine pumps as noisy as the PPCo
units?

Thanks!

Ed Chaban

 [ The cast aluminum turbine pump made by Motora (Chicago) for Welte
 [ and Recordo installations operates very quietly.  The pump and
 [ motor assembly is suspended inside the box using four limber springs,
 [ and the box is lined with sound-absorbing felt.   -- Robbie