Cleaning primary valves

[Richard Moody]

----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Nossaman <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 8:58 AM
Subject: Re: Cleaning primary valves


> >    Now if the leather facing is deterioated, how the heck does one
> >dissassemble these valves?  I will post to MMD if my primary well of info
> >comes up dry.  ; )   ---ric
>
>Disassembly requires pulling off (from
> the shaft) the press fit collar that the outer valve disk rests on, and
the
> collar that holds the inner disk in place. Leave the third collar on the
> shaft.
> Welcome to Hell.
>
> Ron N

If I were up on Dante I could give you an idea of which hell I am faced
with.
These are the wooden ones with wooden stem located above the main valves.
They seem to be glued together with shellac as the "glue" looks very dark.
But shellac makes a lot of sense as they could be adjusted once installed,
hot glue would set too fast.  However it looks like risk of destruction if
pulled apart.  All the others work fine, only three in the middle, wouldn't
you know.  Since the face rests down and is not exposed to air execpt when
activated I am betting the leather is OK.  The pouches look "factory fresh",
have been very well preserved in the mid west atmosphere.   So I am anxious
to conserve rather than replace.