Player Piano Problems

[Justin Hill]

Helps?  It certainly does, thanks!

One of the levers on the front rail refers to sustain (manual, off,  
automatic) so I suppose it should have this system.  If I believe the  
old lady it belongs to then the piano hasn't been touched since they  
last used it so I can't imagine anything would have been removed from  
it.

As I feared, it looks like there are multiple issues at play here.   
Just because it was apparently working 15 years ago - it could have  
been on its last legs then and is now so full of leaks that nothing  
goes round at all.

The mystery still remains.  I can't find a place for that pipe to go,  
and without some sort of diagram that applies to that specific model  
I can't proceed without starting to take the thing apart.  Hmmm.


On 13 Jan 2006, at 20:30, firman1 wrote:

> Got the photos!
>
> First of all the piano is a "Themodist" style of player. The two  
> elongated holes, like hyphens, are connected to Throttles on each  
> side of the "stack"; the pneumatic stack is divided into bass and  
> treble. Themodist rolls (Aeolian Co.) or Angelus rolls (Melodant,  
> solodant...I believe) have holes shaped like snakebites or  
> quotation marks in the rolls when that horizontal line of notes or  
> a single note is to be accented. The lever on the keyslip on the  
> left is held to the left, lowering the playing level of the piano  
> to a set level. When a snakebite appears, that half of the piano is  
> accented.
> The two buttons are most likely attached to the same tubes as the  
> snakebite tubes, so you can manually express non-Themodised rolls.
> The Metronome lever is used to control the tempo on these special  
> rolls, that usually have a red line to follow, adjusting the  
> constantly changing tempo.
> The tube in your photos would most likely  supply vacuum to a  
> device like the theming pneumatics. Look for one on the right side  
> of the piano, I believe I see one.
> At first I thought it might supply an automatic sustaining pedal  
> pneumatic, which it might, but I don't see it. I do see a manual  
> sustain pedal hand lever in the keyslip. If there is a pneumatic  
> connected to the sustaining pedal trapwork or linkages, it could be  
> its vacuum supply. 99.9% of American pianos that have an automatic  
> sustain (connected to the large hole on the left of the tracker  
> bar) have it on the left, bottom of the piano. Yours could be up  
> higher where I can't see it. It might be missing, too. If that is  
> the case the hole can be plugged, awaiting future repairs. The  
> player pianist can use the manual sustain lever. Look for a  
> footprint or shadow of the missing mechanism.
>
> Hope this helps!
> Berley Antoine Firmin II
>
>
>
>
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