Hi all, Recently I did a repair for the Ferndale, California, museum
on their beloved 1924 Ellington player. The rebuilder, who added a
vacuum box, also removed parts of the tracking linkage. While I made
replacement parts for it while I was there, I'm not 100% happy with
the results (they're more than happy, though!).
This is the late version, with no valves, just the upright bellows
connecting to the bar across the back and tubed to the pallet valves
in the back of the box. The rod between the bellows and the wooden
arm that connects to the bar was missing! I made up replacements,
but I'd like to find a "surplus" unit to rebuild here and take over
to the museum the next time I'm in the area. (It's a 6-hour journey,
one-way, from here. I tried to have everything I might need based on
their stated problems). So, if anyone has some Manualo tracking parts
laying about, I might be interested!
Oh, and for some reason, the end of one pneumatic lever on the upper
stack (three-tier stack) was cut off. I didn't think to make a pattern
from an adjoining unit, so I could use one of those, too, or at least
a drawing of one so I can make a replacement. I thought maybe that note
had a bad valve and stuck on, but it didn't appear to have any problem.
Since it's near the bass break, I thought that might have something to
do with it, but nope. Just another strange alteration!
Play 'em if ya got 'em!
David Dewey
Oroville, California
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