In reply to Don Teach [110225 MMDigest], I agree that cow leather is
best in most cases.  I was seeking neoprene to replace valves in a
newer Aeolian where Neoprene was originally used, not to re-engineer
older players.

There is a big advantage to using the Neoprene verses the leather
facing on a round wood valve -- I don't have to remove and reinstall
the top section of the 3-section plastic unit valve.  I can grab the
old Neoprene valve with my tiny needle nose pliers and pull it out
the top.  I can put the old valve stem on the new valve I punched
out from a sheet of neoprene.  The new valve can then be reinstalled
through the top hole.  Nathan (skip) Woodhull taught me that neat
little trick he said he learned at Aeolian School in Tennessee.

If I use leather this job will cost several hundred dollars more to be
only a little bit better.  I'll give my customers both options, knowing
them as I do.  My guess is most will go with Neoprene.  It will be good
if not great for 20 years, maybe more if there's an electric motor.

It will certainly meet the standards of the general player piano owning
public who are not members of AMICA or MBSI nor are they musicologists
in most cases.  They are fond of their old Aeolian Musette; it was
perhaps their mother's before she died, and no other player piano can
take its place.  _But,_ I've found they most likely don't love it so
much that they will spend over $2000 or $2500 on it.

Bill Maguire