Hello MMD -- This weekend I intended to recover the two hammer rail
lift pneumatics in my Melville Clark Solo Art Apollo player, but they
had the cloth folded differently than any of the rest of the pneumatics
I have ever seen, and were also different from each other and made me
wonder what the best way of doing this would be.

Both pneumatics are original (so I am not undoing the work of a
careless previous restorer) but only one appears to be undamaged.  That
one ('treble side') has a strange type of folding and does not match
the 'bass side', which is also folded differently than illustrated in
the Reblitz book.  The bass side does appear to have been damaged or
disturbed somehow, so I am not clear how it may have originally looked.

I believe in restoring things as they were originally and have done so
with everything else thus far, but I would like the opinion of more
experienced restorers if I should:

(a) recover them exactly as they are, bass and treble different from
each other;

(b) recover them both in the fashion of the 'treble' side pneumatic
given that it appears to be undamaged and original, although at odds
with what I believe is the accepted or preferred method of folding, or;

(c) recover them both with the same type of folding that is illustrated
in the Reblitz book and which matches every other type of pneumatic in
this piano.

If anyone is in favor of 'option (b)', please tell me what the reason
for folding pneumatics like this would be and why pneumatics would not
be folded this way throughout the rest of the piano.  I cannot imagine
that the hammer rail lift is such a special application that it would
necessitate a unique style of pneumatic folding, but perhaps there is
something I am overlooking.  Thank you all for the advice!

Best Regards,
Troy Taylor
Edmonds, Washington, USA

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