Claudine Jones wants her pedals back so she can enjoy the participatory
feeling of the player piano ["I Want My Pedals Back!", 040411 MMDigest].

Good for you, Claudine.  When we got our player many years ago,
I thought I'd install a vacuum pump, especially since our player leaked
like a sieve.  The first night we had it, we pumped through all 100
rolls.  You had to hang on to the edge of the piano and pump like crazy
just to hear the tune.

The next morning, I complained about my legs but my wife Kathay
complained about her fingers: the tips were numb, and they stayed that
way for a couple days.  She told me to forget about the vacuum pump --
if I wanted to listen to someone else (the pump) play a piano, I could
sit in front of the stereo and listen to records.  Glad I took her
advice.

Anyway, in most cases, a vacuum pump is merely spliced into the lower
chest or one of the hoses.  You should be able to pull down the pedals
and pump away, since there is a valve in there somewhere that blocks
the electric pump.  If you don't want the pump, you can remove it and
plug up the hole(s) and you're back to page one.

Now, if someone has actually stolen the pedals and the attached bellows
assembly from your piano and replaced them with a vacuum box, you have
a bigger problem.  But, given the existence of dozens of unused player
pianos, a local technician can probably find one for you if one of the
MMD'ers doesn't offer one to you in tomorrow's mailing.  Most of the
good techs have a few hanging around, taking up space and waiting for
a new home.

If you can find a Weber or one with the same player parts, it should
be simple to reconnect it.

Craig Smith