This weekend I intended to recover the two hammer rail lift pneumatics in my Melville Clark Solo Art Apollo player, but they had the cloth folded differently than any of the rest of the pneumatics I have ever seen, and were also different from each other and made me wonder what the best way of doing this would be.

Both pneumatics are original (so I am not undoing the work of a careless previous restorer) but only one appears to be undamaged.  That one ('treble side') has a strange type of folding and does not match the 'bass side', which is also folded differently than illustrated in the Reblitz book.  The bass side does appear to have been damaged or disturbed somehow, so I am not clear how it may have originally looked.

I believe in restoring things as they were originally and have done so with everything else thus far, but I would like the opinion of more experienced restorers if I should:

(a) recover them exactly as they are, bass and treble different from each other;

(b) recover them both in the fashion of the 'treble' side pneumatic given that it appears to be undamaged and original, although at odds with what I believe is the accepted or preferred method of folding, or;

(c) recover them both with the same type of folding that is illustrated in the Reblitz book and which matches every other type of pneumatic in this piano.

If anyone is in favor of 'option (b)', please tell me what the reason for folding pneumatics like this would be and why pneumatics would not be folded this way throughout the rest of the piano.  I cannot imagine that the hammer rail lift is such a special application that it would necessitate a unique style of pneumatic folding, but perhaps there is something I am overlooking.  Thank you all for the advice!

Best Regards,
Troy Taylor
Edmonds, Washington, USA
21 Oct 2008 05:26:59 -0700 (PDT)
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