Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #073 - 1981 - March [International Arcade Museum]
( PUT ANOTHER NICKEL IN
RE-REBUILDING
Rebuilding the pneumatic parts for a music machine in
volves different techniques than those used originally in
the factory when the instrument was manufactured.
Originally, massproduced, machine-made parts were as
sembled into components which were then installed in the
pianos. Player piano actions contain many perishable
parts which wear out with age, use or a combination of the
two; these parts include leather, rubberized cloth, rubber
tubing and hoses, etc. When these parts failed during the
time that music machines were still being manufactured,
they were replaced with new parts from the factory. During
rebuilding, however, many glue joints must be broken
apart, glued-on pieces of rubber cloth, leather and other
materials are removed, the underlying surfaces are
cleaned, new materials are glued in place, and the compo
nents are then reassembled, adjusted and made ready for
D
Art Reblitz
recovered with original hinges, far too much white glue
and were trimmed poorly. The hinge ends of the
pneumatics were full of glue, sharp edges of glue were cut
ting into the inside of the pneumatic cloth, and the
pneumatics had been reglued to the decks, splinters and
all, in different positions than where they had originally
been glued. Large gobs of white glue had been used in an
attempt to seal leaks around edges of pneumatics.
Remedy: Old pneumatics were entirely removed, decks
sanded as flat as possible, missing splinters of decks were
chiselled off old pneumatics and reglued to their correct
positions on the decks, and decks were then resanded. All
pneumatics were replaced with new top and bottom
boards. New template was made from piano action (the
stack stop rail was missing) in order to reattach the
pushrod fingers to their correct locations on the new
pneumatics.
installation and regulating.
During the 1950's, some repairers developed techni
ques which were appropriate for their day — a day in
which a coin piano like a Coinola A roll piano could be
purchased for $25 and an orchestrion for $200. "Who
cares" said the repairman when he did something which
would make the next repair job much more difficult. "I'll
probably never work on this piano again, and if I do, I'll
worry about the consequences then." Well folks, today is
"then". Twenty-five years have elapsed (just like the
twenty-give years from 1925-1950), replacement materials
have worn out, and we are the ones who have the privilege
of re-repairing previous botchery. With values soaring
during the 1960's and 1970's, the "cheapest possible"
repair job is no longer the desirable one; today, the usual
objective is to attempt to restore a music machine as
closely as possible to factory new condition.
Because of the large number of coin pianos and
orchestrions which were "rebuilt" during the 1950's and
1960's, it is rare today to find a mint, untouched, un-
restored instrument. In nearly every case, it is now more
difficult to repair an instrument properly because of the
cheap repairs which were made to keep it playing over the
years. Any competent, responsible restorer today must
face the fact that today's restorations will be the ones go
ing bad in another 25 years (that is, if we're very lucky —
since some of our materials are inferior to those of 25
years ago), and care must be taken in every step of every
restoration to keep from making it even more difficult to
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restore the instrument the next time.
During the last year, nearly every automatic piano which
has been in my shop for repairs already had been repaired
previously. Here are just a few of the problems en
Instrument: Standard player piano, single valve action.
Problem: Previous repairman broke the pneumatics off
carelessly, pulling splinters from decks. Pneumatics were
26 — THE COIN SLOT
©
The International Arcade Museum
The wrong type of glue was used when this pneumatic was
previously recovered, allowing the cloth to fall off.
LEAKY PNEUMATICS #2
Instrument: Large orchestrion
Problem:
Although
the job looked
beautiful, when
vacuum was applied to the pneumatics, the red polylon
pneumatic cloth began falling off the pneumatic boards.
Moveable boards came loose from stationary boards at
the hinges. The decks had been sanded and covered with
paper, and the pneumatics had been glued down to this
paper. The paper was splitting, allowing the pneumatics to
fall off the decks.
Remedy: The pneumatics had to be recovered again,
this time with the right glue for the pneumatic cloth. The
paper was removed from the decks, and the pneumatics
were glued directly to the decks. This will make the
pneumatics harder to remove next time, but they will not
fall off. If pneumatics are glued to decks carefully with hot
MARCH 1981
http://www.arcade-museum.com/