Aeolian Player Action Removal

[Jon Page]

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At 09:12 PM 11/30/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>Greetings All! Here is a question directed to those experienced in player
>piano repair.  How in the world do you remove a late model Aeolian player
>action in order to work on the piano action? I'm talking about the type of
>player action that has a bundle of spaghetti-like tubing going downward
>through the keybed at both ends of the keyboard.  There is no apparent way
>of getting this thing out of the way, short of disconnecting all 10 zillion
>of the tubes and trying to remember where they go when you put the player
>action back in.  Is there something I'm missing here, or did Aeolian just
>not expect that anyone would bother to service the piano action?
>     Thanks for your help in advance.
>     Patrick Poulson, RPT

Wrap a piece of tape on each tube at the valve and number them. This will
facilitate their reconnection. I think the hard part will be feeding all 
the odd
length tubes back through the key bed at installation.

The plastic valves my be brittle so disconnecting them may break the joint
or seal at the stack. Try a few test tubing removal at the ends to ascertain
this prospect. The vacuum supply hoses may be molded hard to the fittings
and not go back securely also.

How well does it work now? Disconnection the tubes and reconnecting them
may cause leaks and then it is your fault, then you have a much bigger job
looming over you. The neoprene outer valve seats are just begging to be
knocked loose. Of course you could do what has been done to player countless
times, take it out and throw it out. No one will mourn the loss of this player.

If that didn't scare you, first I would try to prop the whole mess forwards to
gain access to the piano action. Make every effort not to disturb the tubing
for all of the cautionary reasons above. But to get at the hammer flange screws
with the action in the piano, you have to remove the lower stack also.
This is a damned if you do, damned if you do proposition.

This project gets a ***** (five star) rating for aggravation.  If infinite 
patience is not
your outstanding attribute then your blood pressure is going to max-out..

I'd wish you good luck, but you'll need more than that . . .

With Sincere Sympathy.

Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net
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