[ Roger Wiegand wrote in 050404 MMDigest:

> The finished pneumatics spring open, as if they had a spring inside,

Don't worry about it unless you got big gobs of glue on the inside.
Take a spring clamp or clothespin and clamp them all shut for a few
days.  I am sure the company originally did this, or they stacked
them all up under weights when they were newly covered.

Oh, yes, I would blow the leather out as you collapse them for clamping
or weighting, not folded in like in a player piano.

D.L. Bullock    St. Louis
www.thepianoworld.com