I have a late-1920s Aeolian player piano with the "compact pump" design.
The piano was rebuilt probably 40 years ago, I'd say; everything looks
just fine. All the notes in the stack play but the pumps _won't hold
air_ and I can't figure out why!

I've looked over the whole thing with a flashlight and I inspected all
the connection points I could see. The outlet air vents on the back of
the foot-pedal bellows are in pristine condition and they seal just
fine. The reservoir isn't collapsing and staying collapsed, though; all
the suction is just leaving.

The hoses are in good shape -- no punctures there. I doubt the stack is
the reason for all the leakage considering how, even at the low suction
levels supplied by the pumps, all the notes play fine and repeat fine.

The tracking pneumatic is shot but I don't care right now as I can
move the tracking cam manually and most rolls track fine, but the fast
pumping is really annoying. I wish the piano would hold air just a
little bit tighter.

If anyone could tell me what are the biggest causes of leakage on
Aeolian compact pumps, then that would be much appreciated. I'm
totally lost as to what could possibly be killing this piano so hard.

Piotr Barcz
Upstate New York
thepiotrcorporation@gmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]