It seems that there is a big need in good material to restore pneumatic
Instruments.

Of course we have this problem also in Germany. We have tested many
different rubbercloth, leather, etc.  In the past years, at least, we
came to the point that there is no really good material for the most
of the needs we have on the market (of course there are some leathers
from suppliers of organ builders which also can be used for pneumatic
systems).  Also we thought that the original material was good enough
to let the instruments play for 30 or more years, so we started to
analyze the old material and ordered material which has the same
material mixture of the original material, sometimes with some small
changes because of the different environment today (ozone etc.).  Of
course it was only possible for us because we were able to place big
enough orders (nobody will produce for you, for example, 10 square meters
of rubbercloth) which we need to make our new Instruments
(Hupfeld-Phonoliszt-Violina, Weber Maesto).

Now we are able to get all material we need to restore a pneumatic
instrument perfect (of course it is never only the material) and
because we have 6 people working in our "pneumatic" workshop we mostly
have stock off all materials.  So if someone is in need of material
like lead tubing, brass tubing, rubbercloth, leather, shellac,
leather belts, tin for pump valves, cardboard tubes, etc., send us
an e-mail and we will let you know if we have the sizes you need.

Joerg Wendel
Mechanical Musicboxes Manufactory (MMM)
e-mail: mmm-gmbh@t-online.de