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MMD > Archives > January 2010 > 2010.01.28 > 05Prev  Next


Securing Your Player Piano Adjustments
By Larry Schuette

In 1973, I restored by personal in-house Marshall & Wendell Standard
action player piano.  The player action capstans and stop buttons were
out of adjustment about as bad as those on the YouTube video that John
Tuttle was kind enough to post to honor Michael La's request for
information on adjusting a player action to the piano.  This video
can be viewed at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8bAVPeiokE 

I restored the pneumatics with the 1970's wonder material, Bilon.
After restoration, I set up the piano and player action back to factory
specs and set the player capstans and stop buttons so that the player
played the piano identical to finger playing.  I applied PPCo 320
sealant on the base of the threads where they enter the wood on the
piano capstans, player action capstans and player action stop buttons.

Recently, I removed the player action to tighten up some player action
wood screws and examined the player and piano actions.  The piano and
player settings remain as I set them up 36 years ago and I have played
this piano a lot.  The Bilon had a little wear on the creases but the
piano still pumps and plays beautifully.

If you will look at John's video mentioned previously, you will see
just how much a Standard action player can hammer away to cause the
threads of the player capstans to turn in the wood and go out of
adjustment.  It does not take rocket science to predict that the player
capstans and stop buttons will turn in the wood and retreat again in
the future if they are not somehow locked in place.

I have recently suggested using PPCo 320 glue on the base of the
adjusting screws to keep them from turning to accomplish this task and
received in response a number of posts saying what a bad idea this is.

Really, applying this sealant at the base of the adjusting screws does
not harm the player or piano in any way. This procedure is effective
and the sealant can be removed if needed for any reason in the future.
I have personally proven that this method is effective to secure
settings for the long term. I just thought I would share my success
with the group.

Larry Schuette
Raymond, Nebraska


(Message sent Thu 28 Jan 2010, 21:44:19 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Adjustments, Piano, Player, Securing, Your

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