I have just received my grandmother's player piano, a 1917 Altenburg
(mfg. by WP Haines) with a Pratt-Read player. I got it working with
the foot pumps with a few repairs, and it does work pretty well.
Everything was working just great until a few days ago. It just won't
keep the rolls on track anymore. I had thought the piano didn't have
a tracking mechanism, but today I found it under the spool box. As
found, it is in no condition to operate, so I doubt that it was, even
when the rolls tracked fine.
It seems that the take-up spool is not the problem, but that the problem
is the top spool. I'm guessing this because even with the greatest
tracking adjustment possible to the take-up spool, the sustaining holes
hardly get over the opening. Is there a way to adjust the roll spool
just a 1/16th of an inch to the left?
I am also curious to know the function of a lever behind the take-up
spool. Is that an adjustment for the pneumatic tracker?
Thank you for any help or suggestions,
Michael Hamilton
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