Terry Smythe tells a good Horror Story! I bet that the well-intentioned
rebuilder damaged the original (Themodist) tracker bar while trying to
remove the old lead tubing. Probably several nipples broke loose from the
tracker bar, and when he attempted to solder them back into place matters
_really_ got worse! So he substituted a transposing tracker bar taken
from a contemporary player. The extra hole on the left side is to operate
the re-roll or motor shut-off function.
From Terry's description it sounds like the player is an early Themodist;
since it has a 3-tier stack instead of a 2-tier stack it was probably
installed in one of Aeolian's better-grade pianos. Hence it deserves
consideration, at least, of restoration to its original configuration. It
will need an original Themodist tracker bar, or a well-made replica.
Question for the techs: Is there an alternative sealant for the (new)
lead tubing where it enters the manifold board by the valve?
Shellac seems okay to seal a nipple to the wood when supple rubber hose is
used -- then the shellac won't crack. But there's a lot of incidental
vibration on the lead tubing connecting the spool box and tracker bar to
the action stack, and I fear that a shellac seal would crystallize sooner
or later. Is there a non-crystalline sealant, such as rubber cement,
which is suitable (and proven)?
Robbie Rhodes
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