Hi All,  Troy Taylor asks about gluing pneumatics with internal springs
to their respective tiers.  He says, "The techniques I have read and
been told about regarding the proper way to do this involve collapsing
the pneumatic and clamping it down on the board in the proper location
and orientation."

My guess is that the people he's been listening to have never used
animal hide glue, which does not require clamps.  That's a shame
because clamps turn a simple job into complex job.  First, you need all
those clamps.  Or, you have to stop when you run out of clamps, and
wait for the glue to dry.

With hide glue, the job of mounting 88 pneumatics takes about an hour.
With clamps, it takes at least two minutes per pneumatic, and that's if
the pneumatic doesn't ''skate" when you start applying tension.  Worse
yet, in Troy's case, is the problem with those pneumatics that have
internal springs.  What's a guy to do??

My advice:  Use hide glue and forget the clamps.

Also read Craig Brougher's fine article, "Facts About Hot Hide Glue".
In the article, Craig suggests using one-pound weights to hold the
pneumatics in place until the glue sets.  I've never used weights when
gluing striker pneumatics to a tier.  Once you know how much glue is
needed to get just a little glue to squeeze out around the edges when
the pneumatic is pressed into place by hand, I hold the bellow in place
for 10-15 seconds and move on.

Fact is, the object is not to squeeze all the glue out from between the
two mating surfaces.  It's to insure that a little glue squeezes out
all the way around the perimeter of the bellow.  That gives you visual
proof that an air-tight seal exists all the way around the bellow.  And
even with larger bellows like those on an air motor, I don't use clamps
unless the design of the motor is such that the weight and position of
the bellow is such that gravity will cause the bellow to lift away from
the gluing surface.  Then I will use a clamp and apply just enough
tension to hold the bellow in position -- but not so tight that it
squeezes out more glue.

Naturally, there is another way around the problem of the internal
springs, and that's to prevent the bellows from collapsing all the way.
This can be done by putting a spacer of adequate thickness, preferably
felt, between the two boards.  Then use the clamp (if you must) to hold
the bellow in position until the glue dries or sets.

And while we're on the topic of gluing striker pneumatics, I've long
believed that putting a hard crease in the cloth (like what happens
when a clamp is used) decreases the life-span of the cloth.  To prevent
this from happening, I slip the end of my index finger between the two
boards when I press the bellow onto the tier.  (With the right hand,
the thumb is on the top of the bellow, the index finger between the
boards, and the middle finger under the bottom board.  With the left
hand, thumb on the right side, index finger on top and middle finger
on the left side.  This allows me to position the bellow and apply
adequate pressure to get a squeeze.)

Musically,
John A Tuttle
Player-Care.com
Brick, New Jersey, USA