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A friend asked me to look over a player that was given to him and
determine if it needed any work before he paid to have it moved.
It is a Standard action and it played rather well with a music roll,
but with a test roll there were several notes that were not playing
and more that were not repeating.

Much to my astonishment when I removed the piano parts to check the
action, I discovered that the primary valves had been bypassed and
the tracker tubing was connected directly to the secondary pouch board.
The L-shaped board that connects the primary valves to the secondary
valves had been removed.

Has anyone had experience with this arrangement, and what would one
expect to be the problems?  I know the primary valves are there for
a purpose.

The action appears to have been rebuilt about 20 years ago and is
still very tight.  In checking out the problems with the secondary
valves, I found the valve lift and clearance between the pouch and
valve button was very sensitive.

John Bushey
Winter Springs, Florida