Just had to post this. For some strange reason I've rebuilt _my own_
player, a Cable upright with a Euphona Recordo player wedged in it
under the keybed, (It is really stuffed, with motor, belt drive to
pump, pump, and foot pump unit, too). This piano was _given_ to me
by Bob Billings when no one would buy it off the Reno Craigslist.
This free piano only cost me the U-Haul rental ($35), gas for my
friend's big truck ($85) and, about four months later, a hernia
operation. (I forget the cost; fortunately I was still a city employee
at the time with good medical benefits). So, tonight I finally hooked
up all the hoses and linkage and tried it out.
Lots of little things are left to do, but I put on a few Recordo rolls
and I am amazed at the level of expression this system has. Between
the various levels of vacuum, there's the split soft rail, which seems
to be quite active under expression. So, despite the lack of a split
stack, it really sounds like someone is playing the piano!
Fortunately this piano appears to never have been abused, so the
rebuild was pretty straight-forward, except for figuring out the
Recordo system tubing (which had become brittle and much of it had
shattered) and the motor drive tensioner rollers, which were missing,
but one pivot rod and both tensioning springs were there, so it wasn't
hard to figure out and make the missing rod.
One thing I still have to re-do is the mandolin rail which appears to
have been worked on and not really aligned with the hammers, plus the
spring doesn't want to keep it lifted out of the way.
Like I stated, lots of little things remain to chase down and adjust,
but I had to tell _someone_ about this neat expression piano! Okay,
now I can go to bed! :)
Play 'em if ya got 'em!
David Dewey
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