Hi All,  Nobody is perfect, least of all me, but I've learned one thing
in my 30+ years as a player piano rebuilder and that's "Duplicate the
Original".

Those of us who have taken the time to learn how to use hot hide glue
are appalled and genuinely feel pain for the customer who has to pay us
considerably more money to undo some quick and easy repair job that was
done by someone who really thought they were clever.

Why do so many people feel they are smarter than the people who
designed and built player systems?  Don't you think they tested them?
Don't you think they ever thought about taking them apart at a later
date?  Come on!  Let's get serious here.  Do you really think that you
would have been smart enough or gifted enough 100 years ago to make a
player system?  These people weren't dummies, and the proof of that is
that their player pianos are still here 100 years later, and they can
still be rebuilt.  Why mess with success?

"Duplicate the Original" and the system will be at least as good as it
was when it was new, it will most likely last just as long as it did
originally, and the next rebuilder will have the advantage of knowing
exactly how it was built.  Remember this, the next person who works on
the unit may have no idea how it was originally built, and he will
probably duplicate the same mistakes that caused the unit to fail
prematurely or be a nightmare to rebuild.

Lastly, unless you've taken your own work back apart, please don't
advocate that others take your advice.  And remember this Chinese
proverb: "Loud and angry words usually indicate a weak cause."
Off the soapbox...

"Musical Masochist",
John A Tuttle
Player-Care.com
Brick, New Jersey, USA