Hi All,

This letter came in the other day and the writer has consented to
let me post it to the MMD. I thought some of you might find it
amazing what some technicians do to player pianos.

Musically,
John A. Tuttle (www.playercare.com)

 - - -

I am not a professional, but have re-built/repaired several non-player
pianos over the years.  Someone gave me a player piano which I am now
working on (Bellmann).  This is my first player piano.  I also repair
old clocks ant other mechanical things, while my wife is into refinishing
old furniture.

The piano is in fairly good shape.  It was re-tubed and the key
pneumatics were rebuild in 1975.  Another person did repairs in 1977
and did a messy job.  Several of the larger pneumatics were "fixed" by
wraping them with many layers of plastic food wrap and lots of electrical
tape.  The tracking system (fish pole) was partly disconnected and hooked
up to a lawn mower throttle control bolted under the keyboard, providing
a form of manual control.  Many pieces which were originally screwed
together were nailed back in place!  He also used automobile heater hose
from the vacuum motor to the pump, and ran it all over the place,
running it in a new path which prevented the top four or five keys from
working.  The person who did these repairs is a local piano tuner, who
still is in town.  He even went so far as to thumb-tack business cards
here and there throughout the piano.

I am unable to determine how power was transfered from the motor/gear
system to the power wheel which the fishpole winder rubs on.  The books
from the local library mention a "wire" which was used for this purpose.
The power wheel for the fishpole is run through a bronze bearing to
behind the music roll, and the end of this shaft is counter bored and
there is a hole drilled through, maybe for a pin?  The motor end (which
shifts left and right for rewind) has just a sharp point, offset from
the centerline. The books mention a "universal joint type" connector.
Might this be a part of the U-joint?

I realize that the rewind control probably disconnected power between
the motor and fishpole during rewind, but without the "wire" and "universal
joint type" connection I am unable to get this part of the system working.
Do you have a source for a photo or drawing of this linkage?  There is a
plate in the system with patent numbers, and I can go to Cincinnati (I
live in Dayton) where they keep all patents on microfilm at the library
to get a copy of the patent drawing.

I am regulating the piano now, and will be replacing all the bridal
straps, which are mostly broken.  The last repair person glued little
1/2 inch long chunks of new straps onto the ends, or across the breaks
in the old straps, and now the old straps are breaking in new places.
I've seen him do this in other pianos too.

The pump is in good shape, and I have been able to run piano rolls with
the lawn-mower tracking gizmo, but I really want to re-activate the
automatic system.

Thanks for your input.  I liked the original tune you recently entered
"Augmented".  I have been writing computer music since the mid seventies,
using everything from mainframes to PC's but also like real musical
instruments.

Scott  (DSMorse@aol.com)