Bob Taylor wrote in 030317 MMDigest:

> The miracle pouch material, Perflex, was tried and seemed to be the
> "new wave" to replace tan pouch leather.  The trouble was, Perflex,
>  was never meant to be a pouch or anything like it.

I am one of many who was "screwed" by Perflex when I rebuilt my Duo-Art
Weber grand in the early 1970s.  I've since learned that Perflex was
originally intended for another kind of "organ" that did literally ...
never mind.

> Its hygroscopic properties soon led to pouch installation failure.
> In pipe organs, this was a huge catastrophe in that redoing all
> pouches is a mammoth task.

I understand that Perflex pouches helped cause the demise of the
Moeller Organ Co. of Hagerstown, MD, one of our oldest and largest
builders.

> Then comes the late Aeolian player of the 1970's with its plastic
> unit valve containing a sponge valve body.  The valve was gapped to
> excess, by design, and the sponge soon turned as hard as granite.
> Those valves were horrible from day one.

I do have to put in a good word for one player built of modern (for
1950-60) materials.  This is the Dynavoice keytop player.  Although
built cheap and not intended to be repairable, the plastic and rubber
used have held up very well.  The rubber valve bodies are still pliable
and seal well, and _most_ of the rubber pouches are in good shape.
Its main defect is that same over-gapping of the valves, which helps
wear out the pouches through excess travel.

I owe a great debt to Tom Lear for helping me understand and begin
restoring my Dynavoice player.

Mike Knudsen