Wow, I didn't intend for my original question to be controversial,
nor for it to be "a race" as Eli suggested (I'm glad you pointed out
that aspect).  I have ways I do the restoration, and I wondered if
I was doing it efficiently.  Those of us who rebuild multiple player
units are not that many; we are a small population!  Steve Bentley
expressed my question much more clearly than I did, thank you!

Luke Myers described a real "worst case" scenario -- the only part
he missed was the player that had been rebuilt in the 1970s with
carpenter's glue, silicone sealer and Perflex pouches!  (Yes, I had
one of those here!).

Luke, I applaud your humorous description -- although usually it's
"little Jimmy" who does all the mischief (a reference to the numerous
jokes involving "little Jimmy")!  Also, my question was of the player
unit rebuild itself; the piano, of course, will also need attention,
but since far more folks (although fewer than there used to be) do
that work, there's lots of information out there on those task times.

Bill Maguire, your posting made me aware of one large variable in
all this: how much room do you have in the workshop to devote to the
rebuild.  I only have a small workbench; the rest of the shop is filled
with home remodeling supplies (like the new floor for the great room),
my Model A Ford, three pianos (including my Acoustigrande Welte small
grand piano that will, once the house is done, leave the workshop;
oh, boy, I really can't wait for that!.  Meantime, it does serve as
a horizontal surface...).

Bill, I would be very interested in how you use a power screwdriver to
take leather nuts off & on; that is one of the tedious operations that
causes me arthritic finger pain!  I was thinking about that just the
other day while working on this Euphona stack.  I am also envious of
your apparent workshop space _and_ your organizational skills.

Yes, fixtures are important, and I don't think it's fair to include
their fabrication in the "average time" figures, although their
creation does take time.  And yes, a Simplex will take more time than
a Euphona, a Gulbransen will take more time than the Simplex; that's
why I wanted 'average times" broken down into tasks.  And, of course,
there is the player whose note pneumatics won't separate cleanly from
the stack boards and requires making many new parts.

I really appreciate the responses I've gotten from my original
question; it has already given me some re-assurance and some new
insights. It seems I learn something new with almost each player
I do!  Eli, I appreciate your tubing issue -- my Recordo player's
tubing had become rock-hard and was therefore missing in places;
it has taken some time with logical analysis to figure it out; and
the Recordo system isn't that complicated!  I'm appreciating all these
responses and I hope to hear more!

Here's a new question on this same subject.  Perhaps it should be a
separate post, but here goes anyway.  I have been trying a new (to me)
way of preparing the note pneumatics; I use a mini-heat gun to warm the
edges and strip the cloth off. Then I use a razor blade to scrape the
glue of the edges.  This leaves the wood in the same dimensions it
was -- no accidental over-sanding -- and also leaves a "tinned" surface
for the new glue.

I don't think this takes much more time than the sanding method,
especially if there is a "permanent" finger on the pneumatic (no need
to remove it).  Of course, it does require a fixture for the recovering
that allows for the protruding finger.  What are your thoughts on this
method?  (I know, I'll get almost as many answers as there are active
posters! :)

Wishing you all a peaceful Easter weekend,

David Dewey

 [ Depending on the volume of responses to the "new" question, I may
 [ ask Robbie to break the new new question out into a new article
 [ for the Archives so we can make a "thread" out of it (by way
 [ of a new title. --Jody