I personally find it hard to believe that any modern glue is
"better" than hide glue.  For historical reasons alone, it's enough
to demand the use of hide glue because that's what Mr. Welte used
building his orchestrions, Aeolian used building their player pianos
and the Duo-Art, and so forth.

Beyond this, it has been tested and used for hundreds of years and
proven to be effective, strong, clean and repairable.  The bonds
hold cloth tightly to pneumatics and wooden pneumatics tightly to the
boards.  Cleaning up this glue can be accomplished with hot water or
light sanding.  I have tried to remove white glue from pneumatics and
decks after someone glued them on that way...it is not fun--the glue
gums up takes forever to clean up the surface to allow for rebuild.

Where is hide glue lacking that you need to search for a replacement?
Yes, you need to work quickly.  Yes, you need to keep it warm while
you're working and make sure that it's steady until the glue is set,
but with a little practice these things become second nature.

And another point of interest -- I really don't care if they use
a different kind of glue to make furniture, cars, or even to hold
the name plate on to the space shuttle.  I'm not building furniture,
or a car or the space shuttle, I'm working on restoring an antique
instrument that was built using specific materials and techniques
that are time proven and found to be worthy.

I'm not saying that our materials today are identical to those that
were available in 1920, nor am I trying to save the world with my
ideas, but in the same manner, the only glue that is consistently
accepted for use in restoring automatic musical instruments is hide
glue.  Those that advocate using plastic glues do not dispute that
hide glue is correct.

Eli Shahar - Currently in Tel Aviv, planning soon to return to the USA