Hello MMD.  I was in our local Post Office the other day, mailing
off a piano roll, when the postmistress said  "Ooooh, have you got
a pianola?  We've got one at home but it hasn't worked since we
moved into our new house."

Because she looked at me very appealingly, I said I'd have a quick
look to see if the problem could be easily fixed.  The piano is a
Zenker & Schultes.

Well, there was one easily fixed fault: one of the sliding valve
blocks on the air motor had escaped from its restraints and was hanging
loose.  Putting that to rights got the motor going again but it was
still running roughly.  Closer inspection revealed that the recently
escaped valve block was also mistimed.

But there seems to be no way of adjusting the timing other than by
bending the arched connecting wire that joins the valve block to the
crankshaft.  We couldn't find a maker's name on the player action but
that motor looked familiar to me.  And so it should; when I got home
I looked inside my as-yet unrestored Foster Marque Ampico and there
was an identical motor.

So I guess both actions are Amphion?  And, more importantly, is bending
the connecting rod the correct way to adjust the timing?  I hesitate to
do something that may be irreversible.

Regards from John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania.