Join me as I step Outside the Vacuum and tackle the highs and lows of breathing new life into old player pianos, electric pianos and maybe even a photo player or two. If you want, no pressure.
I have not done a valve rebuild for over 25 years so materials and methods change. Now I am rebuilding valves for a Autopiano with those pesky screw on exhaust valves. I have not been able to locate any Standard valve parts so do you have any recommendation for regulating the travel if there is no alternative? Concerning the inside facings: Silicone looks like a perfect alternative to leather however in the past it was found that materials like vinyl and patent leather which was sold by Player Piano Co. lacked slippage when the valve was seating that could cause leakage. John Tuttle tested different leather an found that flap valve leather spit to 0.040 had the least leakage. Could you please comment?
Good video,... thanks! I do volunteer work for a charitable org that runs a big summer show, essentially a live 1930's era museum as one of their income sources. As the guy designated to demo the player piano, I know it could really use some restorative TLC. Your video looks like a good resource if we decide to tackle that job.
I feel that I have the skills with Inventor Pro from Autodesk I am self-taught, I do not, at least not currently have skills with "wireframe composite animation" or the program "Blender" but If whoever reads this, either the uploader of this video or this uploader, slash hopefully subscriber, was willing to compose a deal, and send me very detailed existing blueprints, illustrations, pictorials, photographs, I can make 3D model/ models and drawings, schematics, blueprints, shop drawings, technical plans whatever you want to call them, of individual, separate, single parts, sub-assemblies, major assemblies/ main assemblies, I can even make a 3D model of the entire player piano itself. Now in terms of showing animated arrows or flow of air and making components move on their own that is not what I'm referring to, every part is individual and the only way to animate it would really be just the screen recording of the interface of inventor itself in other words me working on a computer, a screen recording. I am also trying to conduct a business of my own such as architecture where I can draw blueprints schematics shop drawings technical plans and I would hope that someone would eventually get interested in my logos that are all self designed and I want to print on t-shirts to generate capital for anything else I would do in business but even that of course cost money which I have basically none of, but if I were to generate internet traffic, and momentum just 1 or 2 people's interest it would be distributed and passed down and hopefully a name of mine and a logo would eventually be well known in a small city a major city an entire State the whole country eventually, but I feel if one really desires to get an idea across to the RIGHT people, RIGHT audience that it should start with T-shirts. I hope that what I am offering is clear and comprehensive, and someone responds to this.
I have 2 notes on my piano that don’t work. When I open the signal, they work fine but when a hole is open on the tracker bar, they do nothing. What do you think could fix that? I have a beckwith with the valves in front.
Impeccable timing and amazing job! WOW!!! I have never seen this short Buster Keaton film, but I'm sure it feels long when running the fotoplayer! I own a fully restored 1923 Ford Model T - great to see so many in this film. Last year I drove my T over 100 miles on the exact day of its 100th birthday! Perhaps I need to try to pull a house with it this year 😂. Thanks again for the great work you do!
I used to work for the Wicks Organ Company. The APP company had a building at the Wicks factory. Wicks built parts and provided APP shipping so I have a quasi list of the APP instruments built in Highland, their dates of shipment, and where they were shipped to. I am slways interested in placing this information together with instruments. Did this one have serial numbers or theatre info written in it anywhere?
Hello, this is a non related question but, I’ve seen that you have worked on a 70’s aeolian pianola. I just got one, and someone mentioned that the rubber tracker bar tubing was lined with asbestos. Is this true? If so, do you know how to keep it safe, without replacing any tubing? I’m an amateur with player pianos, and I don’t want to throw the thing away. Thanks! Ps. I love your videos, keep it up!
We have a 1960s Aeolian player piano and the rubber tubing in ours looks perfectly normal. I have never heard of any player company using Asbestos in their tubing. Plain rubber tubing was most common; a few fancier ones have cloth-covered rubber tubing. Later on some people used neoprene or plastic tubing when rebuilding, with mixed results. Some orchestrions and a few fairground organs have cardboard tubing which is heavily shellacked inside and out to give it rigidity and make it airtight. Many old home player pianos may have lead tubing, but the lead is usually inert and not directly a hazard.
@@andrewbarrett1537 thank you so much, the day after I posted this we did a test and it came back negative. But I did have one more spot that I think may have it. On the electric motor there is some old insulation. Do you think that would have asbestos in it?
I binge watched this whole series today. I am a bit bleary eyed, but I really loved it. Such interesting and complex work so well carried out--and with humor. And it really brings a smile to see this fine old machine brought back to life instead of going to a landfill or burn pile as so many thousands like it have.Good job!!!!
You know, I've always wondered how fast an air motor can go, but I've just found a simplex piano player that has a spring wound gear motor.............. No I'm not gonna destroy it lol.
In a few weeks I will receive an Aeolian player piano directly from the anti-woodworm treatment. It comes from my wife's family and they hasn't played it or done any maintenance to it for possibly close to 40 years. After watching your videos I decided to completely restore it. I have manual skills and tools, although not as professional as yours, but I have worked with modeling, models and DIY all my life, so I have been encouraged. I will need help regarding materials, specific glues and so on. I hope you can guide me a little on these topics when I need it, since I will go step by step. Delighted to have found this tutorial and I hope to get to the end by completely restoring our Aeolian. Thank you very much, congratulations for the quality of your videos and warm greetings from Spain.
Regarding copyrighted player rolls, there is a cutoff age for copyright after which the work becomes public domain. Look up "mickey mouse law" or "Copyright Term Extension Act", as it's properly called. In the US the age is 95 years. Other countries have different and much shorter durations. NB: check with a lawyer, I am an honest man, not a lawyer! 😊
In this case (where the motor is moving the pneumatics), changing the material won’t be as much of an issue, but in most cases keep in mind that a thicker material doesn’t respond as well and can hamper performance. This is why original pneumatics used rubber cloth because it’s thin and flexible. If you need to replace rubber cloth with leather in the future, try to find leather of as close to the original thickness as possible.
Rubber cloth of multiple kinds is available from Organ supply. Still very widely used. Also, future restorers will thank you if you use hide or fish glue (what would have been used originally) instead of white glue for pneumatics and leather.
The point about materials in a restoration is a moot one. There are historically accurate preservations and there are functional refurbishments. Both have their place. What's more important is payingt attention to not destroy irreplaceable parts of the object's provenance, putting stuff back the way it was and not different where possible, using non-degrading, well documented materials and keep records of the composition and what solvents and techniques will undo your work. If you want to do the next guy who works on this in another hundred years a huge favor, write up all you did and how you did it, print it up on acid-free paper together with material data sheets if you have them, and put them in a pouch in the back of the piano.
Can never really get over how incredibly complex these machines are. We tried to rebuild a piano ONCE, and in the chaos of my gramma's death, we failed even that fairly "simple" task. Thank you so much for sharing these videos, they're some of my favorites to watch.
Hello, I would like to ask. Are the wooden pieces of the xylophone just between those metal strips, or is something between them, like a piece of rubber or leather?
I wish I had more time to watch more of your videos. I wish I had time to come see your shop! This makes me wanna get back into my baby grand project. I love covering pneumatics and pouches. Great video!
I'm always impressed by your creativity. Using egg cartons to keep parts organized is very clever. The templates you create to make new parts are brilliant.
