Again I don't know how much clearer I can be: out of the dozens of
reproducing pianos I've heard over the last 40 years, here and in the
US, at most 3 restored using traditional materials actually reproduced.
The rest were immaculately rebuilt using hot glue, were the pride and
joy of their owners, looked flash, but sounded absolutely terrible!
And I have no use whatsoever for a reproducing piano, however
fascinating and "valuable", that does not reproduce.

The saddest aspect of this is that so many rebuilders and owners
clearly have developed no ability whatsoever to hear whether an
instrument reproduces or not.  I suspect they virtually never listen
to pianists.  They fondly believe that because they have rebuilt
everything supposedly exactly as it was when made, and adjusted it
according to the service manual, it must ipso facto reproduce.  If
only wishing made things so.

  Proud owner/rebuilder: "That's exactly how Paderewski played it!"
  Me (in the English vernacular): "You're 'avin' a larf!"

I speak to many musicians and pianists, and almost invariably they
dismiss reproducing pianos, having had to suffer examples in museums
and on video sites which are travesties of pianism.  We have a
responsibility, not least on MMD, to acknowledge these and not pass
bad examples as good.

Part of the problem of making reproducers reproduce reliably is
the inherent instability of the original materials, and even worse
variability in modern replacements.  If Mr. Welte and Aeolian had had
RTV, PVA and Neoprene, they would doubtless have used them in their
consumer durables, just as they adopted rubber tubing instead of lead,
and the new-fangled rubber-cloth instead of leather.  Some short-cut
methods of using them might have proved harder to reverse, like
Gulbransen's saw-apart stacks, but we would be reusing them today.

Over the years I've been called in too many times by an owner to say
why their instrument -- expensively-rebuilt by someone else -- doesn't
work properly.  Several common problems recur.

Weak notes are frequently caused by leaky hot glue pneumatic to deck
joints or leaky pneumatics.  Either means stack down and parting the
joint, now a risky unknown quantity, and something I am no longer
willing to undertake.  Often pneumatics are leaky because hardened
hot glue has caused sharp wear points at board edges and corners, or
resulted in excess tension in the cloth, something that never happens
with PVA.  This is very common in Duo-Art accordion pneumatics, remade
with hot glue, which either won't close smartly or are so stiff they
can barely contract.

Another common problem is lack of stack airtightness, and worse,
a leak between the bass and treble sections of the stack, caused by
using gaskets made from poor modern leather.  Using this also for
Duo-Art Theme secondary and Accompaniment one-way valves also audibly
impairs reproduction.  Engineering-quality, long-life closed cell
Neoprene is infinitely better.  In fact, using leather for the one-way
valves as designed was from the beginning unreliable, and my design
using modern materials results in the permanently crisp accenting
intended by Votey and heard in the audio clips I gave before.

The point is to adopt strategies and materials which ensure our
reproducers reproduce.  And since RTV, PVA and Neoprene, for instance,
used wisely will in no way prevent safe future rebuilding, I'll go on
advocating and using them.  And others who want their reproducers to
reproduce will do so too.

Patrick Handscombe
Wivenhoe, Essex, UK