Hi MMDers,  Craig's post about Schulz players and the previous discussion
on the use of PVC-E has prompted me to relate this tale.

About ten years ago, a technician was called upon to rebuild a Schulz
player.

The job was never completed.  The owner of the piano contacted me about
two years ago to just assemble the parts.  He assured me that was all
that was left to be done.  Ah....If only life were so easy!   I brought
the pile of parts into the shop.  The owner had carefully wrapped
everything in old bedspreads.

As I opened things up I discovered that, indeed, everything was there.
Including pouch pneumatics covered in rubber/cotton pneumatic cloth,
glued to the deck with what seemed like an entire gallon of PVC-E, and to
top it off all the pouch pneumatics were assembled to the valve lifter so
that the valves were held in the play position and you couldn't "squish"
the cover boards on if you wanted to.  Glad I told the owner that I would
have to examine the parts in the shop before giving an estimate.

It took two months to undo and redo the stack.  Most of the time was
spent trying to get the stationary board of the pouch pneumatics
separated from the deck.  I tried every chemical imaginable and nothing
really dissolved the glue.  The best that happened was a slightly gooey
mess to rub, peel, and scrape.  I had to follow this with extensive hand
sanding for the last residue.

Never would have had this problem if it had been done right with hot hide
glue.  By the way, the reason the first tech never completed the job: he
died of a heart attack.  I guess we know why!

Debbie Legg