Paces Race Progress April 7

Recovering some bellows, cleaning some linkages, and repairing all the valves.

paces races disassembled valve

Most of the valves needed new leather patches.  There is an upper and lower seal, basically leather patches glued to a small wood disc.  Then there is a small leather punch, the dot, that helps glue the valves to the wood cross.  The cross holds the valves just below the upper seal.  Note the leather has the imprint of the valve seat and is hardened.  Putting new leather patches replaces the old with a new, more flexible leather seal.

paces races valves

The upper valve seats are at the top, valves waiting to be restored are next, a bunch of valve parts is in the middle, and the screws that hold the valve box together are at the bottom.

paces races linkages

I needed to clean a bunch of linkages.  This is the reset linkage.

paces races recover bellows

I am recovering the bellows.  The clean wood slats are tested to make sure the hinge is in good condition and the wood does not wobble as the slats are open and closed.   The rubberized fabric is cut into strips that are as wide as the bellows will open.  The strips are placed on the flat surface, a sheet of glass.  Hide glue is applied to the ends of the bellows slats and the slats are rocked against the fabric.  Later the fabric will be wrapped around the sides and eventually the back.  John Tuttle, a player piano restoration expert has a series of videos doing this on YouTube.  There is also an exceptional book on player piano restoration, "Player Piano: Servicing and Rebuilding" by, Arthur Reblitz.