When the current topic came up of adhesives used to repair player
pianos, or any other automatic musical instrument for that matter,
I swore that I was not going to get involved.  I have been using the
traditional materials for over forty years and have witnessed first
hand the results, mostly tragic, of the so-called new and improved
materials that have been touted in the past.

What prompts me to write about adhesives and other materials are the
posts about passing down knowledge gained through years of restoration
efforts and the tricks we have learned in the process.

If we choose to share this information with younger people just getting
started in the hobby/business, then in my opinion this information
should be based on solid experience and not "Let's try plastic wrap for
pouches as it is completely air tight!".

Nothing lasts forever, least of all rubber tubing and rubber cloth.
The quality of the tubing and cloth has a lot to do with its longevity.
The original Aeolian Company (not to be confused with the more modern
version of the 1960's and '70's), used the finest materials in their
musical instruments, and that includes pipe organs and pianos without
players.

It was not unusual in the past to find an Aeolian player in which the
original cloth was supple and air tight.  Finding any automatic musical
instrument today that has not been hacked by someone is indeed rare.
It seems that everything that I get today has the marks or foot prints
of some "garage Johnny" whose mother told him in his formative years
that he was a genius and could fix anything.

I take comfort in the fact that some of the procedures outlined
recently in this august journal are taking place far enough removed
from me that I will not have to work with them or witness the sloppy,
gooey mess that they surely will be in a short period of time.

Hide glue lasts, and lasts and lasts!  Sure, it delaminates if stored
in a damp location, but so do other adhesives.  Notice I did not say
"white glue" for indeed there are all sorts of white glues.  None of
them should ever be used on something that will need to be taken again.
It is that simple.  White is NOT right!

When I visited piano factories in the 1980's all used some form of
white glue for just about everything.  The exception was the Wurlitzer
Company.  They still used hot hide glue to veneer all of their pianos.
When I asked them why, they told me they had still not found a
substitute for it that would last as long as it did.

The modern Aeolian factory used some form of white glue for all of
their player actions as well as a DuPont product to glue on their
plastic valves.  The valves themselves were closed cell Neoprene.
If you have ever tried to restore one of them, then you know the
problems involved.  To replace a plastic valve, find a large heavy
ball-peen hammer.  The rest of the instructions you will find in the
service manual.

In most Kimball player pianos produced after 1960 the unit valves are
glued on with, well, something.  Whatever it was it wasn't permanent
by any means.  It was, however, convenient and easy to use.  I suspect
that is the reason that "new and improved adhesives" find their way
into modern player piano repair.  I could not bring myself to use the
word "restoration!"

PVC-? (you add whatever last letter you want) is the scourge of any
competent and conscientious rebuilder.  I spend more time removing other
people's mistakes than I do repairing them correctly.  At my age, I try
to steer clear of as many of life's problems as I can.  Player pianos
of any sort glued together with _anything but_ hide glue are mostly
refused by me; however, I have just finished three pneumatic stacks for
Seeburg nickelodeons, all of which were butchered by the last craftsman.
Since we are talking about adhesives here, I will spare you the details
of all the other butchery that took place.

Broken bottom boards on pneumatics glued on with anything but hide
glue are not much of a problem.  I routinely make new ones anyway.
Splintering and splitting of the decks they are affixed to, however,
is a totally different matter.  Crafting a new pouch board for a stack
is time-consuming and costly to the customer, but I have had to do it
in the past and may do it again in the future.

A 44-note Electrova cabinet piano sits in my shop at the moment.  You
don't find one of those sitting on every corner.  They are quite rare.
It, too, has suffered the ravages of a "genius" who was too lazy to
replace the leather nuts on the pitmans.  He simply glued them in
place because they were rotten and they crumbled when touched.  In
that particular case, some sort of adhesive did the job -- for a while.
Copious amounts of casein adhesive was slathered on the pneumatic
boards and some version of PVC-whatever was used to glue on the
pneumatic cloth.  Did you ever try to remove any derivative of PVC?
It's sheer hell in any case.

What is really at work in advocating the new and improved materials
is simply ego.  Yep, someone comes up with an idea, advocates it and
cannot for whatever reason admit that it is flawed.  You see it all
the time.

One of these days, when I am in the right mood, I will tell you the
story of Whitworth screws and how someone routinely uses them in a
product they produce.  Metric or U.S. Standard were not exotic enough.
Just lose one of those screws and see what you have to go through to
get a replacement.  The young sales person at your local do-it-yourself
store will give you a most curious look when you ask for Whitworth
screws.

Whitworth screws went out of vogue years ago shortly after the United
States shipped tons of parts to the African desert to fix British
tanks.  The parts were useless as the tanks used Whitworth screws.
Then again, how stupid of us Yanks not to know the difference!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  I wish I had
said that.

Ed Gaida
San Antonio, Texas