Why Don't Tracker-Bar Air Filters Exist?
By Karl Ellison
I don't bother with those whimpy tracker-bar pumps... I plug in the trusty Suc-O-Lux, set it on the low setting with a horse-hair brush, and lightly/carefully go over the bar once in a while. Sure enough, those dead notes come back to life! My tracking-mechanism pneumatic tubes on my Autopiano are filtered with fine brass screens at the inlets, but the tubes to the playing primary valves aren't filtered.
If I had the time and equipment, I'd experiment by making a box with 88 inputs that each lead to a 0.5^3 dimentioned chamber, then immediately exit 88 outputs on the back. This would go in-line between your tracker-bar and your stacks primaries. In each of the small cavities would be placed a brass-braid filter, or a lightly tufted wad of cotton. The top of this box would disassemble with a few screws for annual cleaning/cotton replacement, just like my tracker inputs are designed to do.
I can imagine some possible drawbacks: Added resistance causing low-power passages to miss playing, increased line capacity causing signal delays or other undesirable phenomenon, added manufacturing $$$. Can anyone think of reasons why manufacturers haven't bothered with a filtering mechanism for these holes? If the theory's good enough for my tracker-mechanism's inputs, why not the stack?
- K a r l B. E l l i s o n
Ashland, Massachusetts U.S.A.
KBELLISON@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/kbellison/kbe.html
|
(Message sent Fri 6 Sep 1996, 23:04:38 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.) |
|
