I always tell my player piano customers that many original players ran
for 40 years and that there is no reason this should not be expected
from a good restoration done today.

What you don't want to happen, then, is to have the piano or player
action go out of adjustment in a few years after you have worked to get
it set up to factory specs.  Here are a few procedures I use to lock in
the settings (tips you will not find in the Reblitz book).

After tuning the piano, I make a final adjustment taking out the lost
motion by adjusting capstan screws to the piano action.  I then dab
some PPCo 320 plastic glue half way around the front of each capstan
screw where it enters the wood.  My theory is that if the screws cannot
turn, they will not go out of adjustment due to hard finger playing of
the piano.

After taking out lost motion by the player action, I also use this
PPCo 320 glue on the base of the little capstan screws that make
contact from the player action to piano action.  If this is not done,
repeated hammering away by the player action will cause many of these
little capstan screws to turn in the wood over time and the player will
go out of adjustment.

On the player action stop buttons, after adjusting the player to play
almost exactly as playing the piano with your fingers, again, I do not
want to have these adjusting screws to turn in the wood.

I use PPCo 320 glue around the base of the adjusting screws with the
flat wide top to keep them from turning.  For eye screw stop adjusters,
after setting, I turn each one slightly if needed so they are all
parallel and then thread a #13 piano wire through the eyes in each
section with a little "L" bent on each end to keep wire in position so
the eyes are locked in place.

On Tempo adjustment, I apply new leather nuts on the adjusting rod
and once the Tempo is set correctly, I place a dab of PPCo 320 glue on
front and back of the nuts where they contact the rod.  Even if the
leather nuts should become loose in the future, they will stay in
adjustment if they cannot turn on the rod.

The beauty of PPCo 320 glue is that it stays pliable and can be easily
removed at any future date if needed.

I guess these tips are meant to help people like Michael La who may be
new to the player piano restoration world and want their work to last
well into the future.

Larry Schuette
Raymond, Nebraska