There was a time when rebuilding a player piano meant recovering the
pneumatics and replacing the old tubing and hose.  And if you got a
"professional job" that meant you might get the outside valve leather
replaced as well-- if you were lucky.

   That time is quickly passing into history.  Few rebuilders in the
past restored all of the working soft materials in a player piano, and
as a result, many "restored" players of 20 years ago need valve jobs
badly.  Most of the pumps I've run into need new flaps and seats, even
if they've had the covers replaced.  And many of those rebuilders who
got away with murder for years by not doing the valves, are discovering
that their customers are rather put-out with the fact that in ten
years, their "fully restored" players no longer play with the same
energy and power that they once did, and some barely play at all.

   If a player is anything, it is valves.  Every valve in an automatic
musical instrument is paralleled with every other one.  If each has a
total seepage equivalent to a pin hole (#70), a hundred valves seeping
only that much equates to a 1/4" dia hole drilled through the pump!

   If a Duo-Art valve (for example) in seemingly perfect preservation
is placed on a tester attached to a bubble jar and a vacuum applied,
the seepage through what seems to be "perfect original leather"-- that
means, leather that seems tough and firm, and which cannot be fluffed
up with an awl point, will leak from four to ten times as much per
valve as that same valve after it is recovered and tested again.  The
reason is because it is old.  It may look good, but it is not good.  The
collagen has been bored through with microscopic tunnels by bacteria.
If you can see that, you've got better eyes than I have.

   The flaps and seats in reproducer rotary pumps or in player piano
pumps, for that matter, are perfect to look at, but leaky when tested.
When a flap seat is removed from the inside of a bellows pump, it can
be zipped off without effort because it is so dry-rotted.  Doesn't
really matter what condition the flap above it may be as long as it is
porous and leaky.  When you expect the new covers to last 50 years and
leave old, dry-rotted leather inside that couldn't possibly last more
than another ten or fifteen, you waste money and effort.

   When old players which haven't been played for 40 years are rebuilt,
they will function just like new after having new covers and tubing
installed, and they will do a great job with the original valve leather
for about 5-10 years.  Then they start having problems, losing power
and giving a ho-hum performance.  The reason is partly because the
inside valve seat leather of each valve is being "pulled apart"
thickness-wise.  As the pouch forces the valve poppet off its seat time
and again, away from the suction, it loosens the leather and "fluffs"
it.  That opens the "tunnels" in the leather and causes it to cipher, and
the packing effect of the vacuum on closed valves over the years gives
way to the "shredding" effect that could not have bothered new, strong
leather 50 years ago.

   Owners who believe their player was totally restored with new valve
leather throughout sometimes think they are seeing a minor problem.
They call a repairman who may recognize the problem right away and tell
them they need a valve job.  He is hastily ushered out because "he wants
to redo the valves which they know have already been done." Why not
make him prove it?  Have him remove one of the components right in front
of you, open it up, and just see if it has new valve leather or not?
You may learn something!

   Having to rebuild your valves is not the end of the world.  Most
players can get a complete valve job without having to do everything
else as well.  So many player owners are missing out on some of the
greatest rolls ever offered, especially with the new crop of arrangers
we presently are fortunate to have.  We are living in the greatest age
of automatic musical instruments.  The talents of a number of great
arrangers who are no longer limited by financial and time constraints
imposed by industry are being unleashed by the magic of MIDI and will
become both rolls and computer programs which will soon play on many
pneumatic operated players.  This is a fantastic source of what is
destined to become the best music ever offered.  And the best of both
worlds in the reproducer player business would be a pneumatic player
with its fantastic dynamic range, coupled with the unlimited
performance power of MIDI artistry.

   This doesn't take away from the charm of the original roll, and the
instrument will be able to play both.  But it adds a dimension to its
capability that you always thought it had, but couldn't prove it until
now.

   Don't believe in your pneumatic instrument's limitations as you may
perceive them.  It actually has the ability to play the instrument to
the full capability of the greatest artist (or group of artists
together) who ever lived.  All it needs may be something other than 80
year-old leather to do it, and you're back in business! You are very
close to hearing that instrument play as never before.  Hope some will
take advantage of the coming musical explosion.

Craig B.