In re-covering some of the actions on the Seabreeze band organ that
have thin fabric and get heavy use (snare drum pneumatics come to mind
first), I have noticed Johnny Verbeeck's use of some kind of man-made
material for gasketting.  It is a blondish yellow-tan color, extremely
smooth on at least one of its two sides, somewhat soft and spongy, less
than a sixteenth of an inch uncompressed, and nicely airtight.

In re-building the vacuum pumps for the Wurlitzer 146 band organ in the
Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum in North Tonawanda, N.Y., I decided
to order a square foot of the artificial leather offered by Player
Piano Company (item #739), but that was not at all like what Johnny
used.  It is thicker, less resilient, stiffer, and has a cloth backing.

Does anyone know Johnny's gasket material and where it can be obtained?

Matthew Caulfield

P.S.  Two surprises while I was in North Tonawanda yesterday installing
the rebuilt pumps: at about 3 p.m. the nearby Niagara Hydroelectric
asked all tourists to leave the complex immediately, according to
visitors to the Herschell museum, making me wonder whether the Niagara
Frontier was a good place to be with terrorist warnings flying;
secondly among the visitors was the grand-daughter of Ralph Tussing,
the man who spent his later life running the Wurlitzer perforators as
part of his T.R.T. Manufacturing Company.  She confirmed that Lloyd
Robins (the R in "T.R.T."; the two T's being Tussings Ralph and son
Gordon) is still alive and living in the town, but that Lloyd was never
active in the business, leaving only Gordon, her father, with any real
knowledge of the "old days."  She also re-iterated what Gordon has told
me, that the family name is pronounced "Two-Sing" (like it was Chinese)
and not "Tuss-ing," as most are won't to say it.