After 10 years I have finally been asked to restore an Angelus player.
This is the type as described by Arthur Reblitz on page 147 of his book,
without which I would never have started in restoration.  His advice is
brief but succinct: proceed carefully.  So I shall.

This John Broadwood grand has had previous work done on it and all other
components of the mechanism -- main bellows, governors, pneumatics,
etc. -- are in excellent condition.  So I am wary of assuming that
there is a problem with the valve chest that I am able to immediately
resolve.

The instrument is fairly hard to pedal, and requires sustained effort
to complete a roll, although it plays all notes adequately.  There is
clearly some suction loss somewhere.

No notes play when they should not.  The tubing connections appear sound.
An initial test with a regulated 8" of suction input to the secondary
valve chest showed the following output values when connecting two
tubing holes to the gauge, one in each half: Bass 4", Treble 2.5"

I have removed the primary valve assembly and spoolbox, and now have
the action disassembled to the point where I have the secondary valve
chest on my workbench.  I have not yet attempted to carry out any work
apart from testing suction levels on a water gauge.

All the screws and gaskets are tight and there is no obvious leakage
point.  The rectangular pouches do not seem to have any trace of
sealant upon them, but the leathers look in decent condition.  The
blocks are all glued firmly to the slotted board. :-(  The primary
valve chest is as yet untested separately, but it looks in excellent
order.  I have no reason to suspect it of major leakage.

My questions are --

1. Should I expect a fast response from the fingers when exposing holes
to atmosphere with 8" of suction for this type of player?

2. If providing 8" of regulated suction to the chest should I expect
at least 7-7.5" of suction from all and any notes as in other systems?

3. Any other tests suggested before I get the hammer out?

4. Any advice on removing the valve blocks?

5. What sealing is recommended?

Many thanks,
Roger Waring

 [ 90 minutes later... ]

Further to my previous posting, I have just realised that the secondary
valve chest of course has no bleeds.  So when I take a reading off the
signal hole and get 3" (from 8" suction supply)

I probably should be getting zero as there is nothing to allow suction
to escape except the valve pouch material itself.  Would that be
sufficient to explain an overall loss of suction that would affect
performance?  Should pouch leather allow any leakage at all?  If so,
how much?

Or would it be irrelevant as there is a closed system when the whole
unit is assembled and notes are not being played?  My previous readings
of 4" and 2.5" were from the fully assembled unit, including the
primary valve chest, not as stated, the secondary valve chest.  I took
readings from disconnected tubes.

The pouch leather in the secondary valve chest looks original, and the
button contact positions are quite faded with use.

I am at present ploughing through the MMD Archives on Angelus so may
find some answers there.

Many thanks,
Roger Waring - The Pianola Workshop
Solihull, West Midlands, UK
http://www.pianola.co.uk/