Hooray!  My player's in tune!  It sounds a _whole lot_ different now, very
rich and nice.

I just had Alan Mueller over to tune my piano and check out the player
mechanism's health.  Being new to this, I had no idea if it was okay or
on its last legs. I was relieved to find that it's in good shape, and I
_won't_ have a 6-month pneumatic covering hobby anytime soon!  While he
tuned it I fixed a dead note (2 screws had fallen out of the pneumatic's
linkage) and went over every single pneumatic, checking for pinholes.  I
fixed a few I found with GE silicone rubber.  After that, and tightening
all the stack screws, and lubrication, it works like new -- why, even the
dog can pump it!  :-)

Thanks for all the advice on the tracker bar pump.  I need to get a new
filter from Player Piano Co. then I'm all set.  In the meantime, I
successfully put a small diameter hose onto the household vacuum cleaner
and vacuumed the tracker bar.

After I got the air motor installed last week, I went out and picked up
40 or so antique rolls, from the 1920s-1960s.  (I sorted thru maybe 400
rolls over a lunch hour to select these!)  While Alan was there he
played a few, and told me something I didn't know (and maybe others don't
know), so I thought I'd pass it on.

Here it is:  many manufacturers used a date code on the rolls, box
labels, or both.  I have some old QRS, Ideal, and other rolls with a
three or 4 digit date code, e.g. 1232 means Dec, 1932.  323 would be
March, 1923.   On the box label, it's usually printed in smaller and
thinner typeface than the other information.  On the rolls, it may appear
at the beginning or end.

Is this date code the date the master roll was recorded or cut, or the
date the COPY was produced (like the Dec, 1932 run of a song originally
recorded in 1930), or something else?  Back in the "old days", did rolls
continue production over several years, like QRS does today, or were
their production runs short lived 1-time events?

 [ Usually it's the date the song was first issued.  The master might
 [ lay about for months, awaiting the editor's inspiration.  The labels
 [ were printed when the first production rolls were punched and placed
 [ in boxes.  -- Robbie

Rick Inzero,  Northern Telecom, Inc., Rochester, NY  rdi@cci.com