To all in the MMD that rendered advice (solicited and otherwise) to
an amateur restorer, Thank You.  The restoration of the Farrand player
I had undertaken last fall is completed.

After finishing the rebuilding and spending nearly a week tweaking the
valve adjustments while it was connected to a regulated suction source
(a small vacuum cleaner connected to a Variac), we installed the upper
action in the piano last Wednesday and _it works!_  Now I see the
satisfaction you all get from taking a tired but venerable instrument
and making it sing again.

A _little_ bit of cheating was necessary -- putting a metal elbow in
the main suction hose to keep it from kinking, for example, because the
modern equivalent from Schaff is not as rigid -- but everything else
was a faithful to the original as I could make it.  It's a magnificent
sounding instrument, and the museum director has lots of plans to
demonstrate it.

I plan to keep monitoring the discussions here, even if I don't rebuild
another piano.  (I may not be _completely_ done -- the museum also has
received a circa-1860 melodeon they'd _really_ like to have working...)

Dan Harrett