Re: Seek Source of Player Piano Parts - MMD 060405

You'll get a load of info from others, but here are a few hints.

0. Unloading the piano is your first concern.  Read the MMD archives
for exciting stories about piano moving.  Then avoid the excitement.
Strong friends who will follow orders are crucial.  Uprights are
top-heavy and can fall over and kill you.

1. There are two entirely separate machines to a player piano, that
being the player action and the piano itself.  Rebuilding just the
player action may leave you with a lousy piano that can sort-of be
played automatically.  Indeed, you won't even be able to tell whether
you've done the job right.

Rebuilding a piano is not for the first-timer.  There are special
tools and techniques that make the job much easier.  You won't have
them unless you are already a piano rebuilder.

It will likely help you to befriend your local piano tuner/technician,
and to hire him for at least some of the work.  Certain aspects, such
as putting on new tops on white keys, are so specialized that there are
craftsmen who do nothing but, and piano rebuilders send parts to them
for the work.

Your piano may need new strings, new hammers, hammer revoicing,
rebushing of action joints, or any of several other repairs.  It will
certainly need tuning and some adjustment of the action.  A skilled
tuner can do this kind of work in a few hours.  I, myself, can tune
a piano in about two months.

2. Most piano rebuilders are not interested in learning how to rebuild
player actions.  There's a lot of fussy work to be done (and it's not
just "replacing parts") but any mechanically talented person can learn
how to do it.

3. Get the books by Art Reblitz.  You cannot proceed without them.

4. Learn everything you can about choosing the correct materials.
Durrell Armstrong of Player Piano Company (PPCo) can help you here,
but also read _all_ the archives of MMD that seem in any way connected
with rebuilding player actions.

Durrell is probably your best bet for getting the right parts.  He can
be hard to deal with if you don't understand what you want, or so I have
heard.  As far as I know, he is not really interested in computers, and
you won't get far trying to work with him over the Internet.  Snail mail
or a telephone call is likely better.

5. There are several true experts who subscribe to MMDigest and will be
willing to help you.  Do not ignore them, and if two of them disagree
with each other, try to understand why.  Above all, do not try to use
"hardware-store" items because they seem cheaper.  This especially
applies to glues.  Use the recommended kinds.  Good luck!

Peter Neilson