[ Gregory Gast asked in 160126 MMDigest:

> Last question: The sustain pneumatic bellows will not close all the
> way, but gets stopped by something solid that can't be seen.  It's not
> the lever, as I've had the pneumatic out of the piano for inspection.
> There are no adjustment screws visible to change range of motion on
> the bellows.

In 60 plus years of exposure to player pianos, I have yet to encounter
any sustain pneumatic that was intended to close completely.  There is
usually some type of stop, hopefully adjustable, to limit the travel of
the pneumatic.  Too much travel is as bad as too little, possibly worse,
for good musical results, as well it would result in creasing the cloth
unnecessarily, shortening the air-tightness of the pneumatic cloth.

 [ Luke Myers wrote in 160127 MMDigest:

> I found, to my surprise and shock, that the valve facings that mate
> with the pneumatics are made of sheepskin.

In regard to sheepskin valve material, my first move would be to test
the valve chest for air tightness.  I've seen overly ambitious people
change out valve facings and getting much worse results than before they
"fixed" a non-existent issue.  My philosophy with machinery usually is,
if it isn't broken, don't fix it.  Cleaning all the gunk and dry oil
out of a player transmission, or bellows pump, should be considered
good maintenance, not repair.

Thomas Binnall