In Saturday's Automated music digest, Larry Fisher <larryf@pacifier.com>
wrote:

> Subject: Ampico valve blocks

> My Dad is considering working on the old player during the cold winter
> months.  Years ago I recovered the pneumatic stack, and bellows and most
> everything else. .........  We roughed up the leather on the little
> metal disk and reassembled the valve.  This got rid of the minor
> leaking.  After doing this to a few more we decided that this was a good
> course of action to take to make the player pump easier.  Has anyone else
> tried this, and should we do this to all of the valves regardless of the
> leakage?  Is this a short term fix?

> I know, I know, we should really swap out all the leathers while we're in
> there.  Any suggestions?

I work on this type of stack quite frequently, in fact I have 3 in the
shop right now.  First thing, I always replace the leathers on the top
valve face because they are exposed.  The bottom valve leathers are usually
in good shape.  You can test this by running your fingernail over the
valve surface.  If  fibers come loose or dust is raised, rip the sucker off
and replace it.  If the leather is good, rough it up with a toothbrush
treat the surface with a silicone based waterproofer.  Neadsfoot oil will
pack the leather and attract dirt.  Now those Bakalite are sealed in Shelac
and in most stack of this type, 60 to 80% of those seals are broken.  Some-
times these rings can just fall out on their own.  To check these, take
a small screwdriver and place it under the inner ring, be careful of
the pouch.  Going in a circular motion *gently* pry up. The ring with
the bad seal should pop out.  Expect to break a few.  Player Piano Co.
has replacements.  These are a little on the tight side and you may
have to ream the hole just a hair.  scrape the old shelac rings and
wood seat and glue in w/ carpenters glue.

One thing to think about when trying to decide what is good and what is
not;   A lot of times certain components in a player stack are well preserved
becaused of the conditions in which the instrument was kept over the years.
As a rule I have found for example that when I find a stack where the
pneumatic cloth and hoses are as hard as a rock the leather well preserved.
....and visa versa.   Moving the instrument to a different location or
conditions may cause which seem to look good at the time of servicing to
deteriorate rapidly

Hope that this is some help

Brian

Short Mtn Music Works¶
109 n. Cannon¶
Woodbury, TN 37190¶
615-563-5814