Hi All,  For those interested in discovering why today's leather goods
are 'less-than-desirable' for use in places where leather was used
originally, I refer you to an article that was recently written by
Craig Brougher. It's located at
http://www.player-care.com/covering_bellows_with_leather.html

While Craig basically echoes my previous comments about using heavy
cloth for exhausters and reservoirs, he explains the problems that one
may encounter when trying to duplicate the original configuration.

As a closing note, in the 30 years that I've been in the trade, I've
only encountered a very small handful (less than five) of foreign-made
player pianos. However, I have worked on over 7000 units. I consider
that number fairly substantial, and still feel justified in pointing
out that "I've never seen a player piano with leather
bellows..."

So the fact that one or two manufactures of foreign-made players do
have bellows that were covered with leather does not change my opinion
that the best material for the job is heavy cloth.

As a wise man once pointed out to me, "If there were no exceptions,
there would be no need for rules."

Musically,

John A. Tuttle
Player-Care.com
Brick, NJ, USA