Hi All,  In a comment, Robbie Rhodes wonders why some materials last
so much longer than others.  In my experience I've found that the
environment in which the instrument 'lives' has a lot to do with the
longevity of the soft materials inside the instrument.

Although I have no hard evidence to support this, I've found that units
that spent the majority of their early life in homes with coal-fired
heaters fair the best.  Such units are easy to identify because of all
the black coal dust inside.  I've also found that units which lived
with 'heavy smokers' are in good shape even though they're 80+ years
old.

What this leads me to think is that an environment (air) that is
'rich' in oils is better for a player piano than an environment that
has 'clean air'.

Musically,

John A. Tuttle
Player-Care.com
Brick, NJ, USA

 [ That's a good observation, John; maybe the oil coating
 [ reduces evaporation of the plasticizers, or maybe it aids
 [ the plasticizers.  -- Robbie