Restoration of a Fischer Ampico grand for Jim Durfee
76) 
77) 
78) 
76) Replacing all the original gaskets with leather gaskets.
77) Testing the reassembled unit. The test pump is run up different suction
levels and each valve is listened to with a stethoscope. If any leaks are detected,
the valve can be repaired now while it is still on the bench. All the valves passed
this test. Also, the stack divider is checked during this process. The pump is
run up to very high suction on one side of the stack and the other side (which is totally
sealed off at each port, is tested to see if it is developing any suction inside. No
suction was leaking from one side of the stack to the other. Next, each valve is
operated by removing the knotted suction tube for that valve and the valve turned on and
off with my finger. If the suction pressure varies in the slightest when the valve
is on as opposed to off, I know that the inside facing is leaking. The chest passed
all tests.
78) This shot was taken to show how the signal nipples are sealed into the chest.
The nipples are tapped into the wood and then a coat of semi-soft burnt shellac is
painted very thickly around the base of each nipple.
79) 
80) 
81) 
79) This is the expression cut out block that mounts to the
primary chest. Some work had been done to this in the previous
"restoration." The gaskets had obviously been leaking so it was slathered
with shellac to seal it. The pneumatic had been badly recovered and was so stiff
that it would barely move. The leather that covers the actuation arm on the
pneumatic had not been replaced and was rotten to the point that it wouldn't have sealed
even if the pneumatic had been capable of closing.
80) The block is now taken apart. You can see that the cork gasket was ruined
in order to disassemble the unit.
81) The previous rebuilder was a very lucky person. When they painted shellac
all over this block to try to get it to seal, the shellac leached into the pouch leather
so far that it almost entered into the movable portions of the pouches. If it had
leached just a tiny bit farther, the block would not have worked. However, since the
actuation pneumatic was so stiff, this device probably didn't work anyway.
82) 
83) 
84) 
82) The cover board has been repainted and new pouch leather
installed. The pouch wells also received a fresh coat of shellac to seal them.
83) This shows the resealed pouch wells from the other side. Also, you can see
that the bellows cloth covering that goes on the bottom of this block has been replaced.
84) Getting ready to recover the pneumatic. You can see, here, that they even
got shellac on the pouch leather of the pneumatic. This could not have worked right
from the moment they finished with it.
85) 
86) 
87) 
85) The pneumatic has been taken apart and is ready to have
all the surfaces cleaned and the inside recoated with shellac to ensure a good internal
seal.
86) Recovering the pneumatic. The cloth has to be specially shaped before
installation onto the pneumatic because of the shape of the wood. These pneumatics
are tricky to recover which is why the previous attempt had failed. Probably, the
person who attempted it before was inexperienced.
87) The pneumatic has been restored and the leather on the actuating arm has been
replaced with a thicker chrome tanned pouch leather. Because this pouch leather is
exposed to the air all the time, it is more likely to rot than pouches made of leather
that is hidden inside the mechanism. To help ensure longevity, a thicker leather
that is chrome tanned instead of the brown "Havana" leather that is used for
pouches, was applied here. This will seal well against the nipples and last a good
long time as well.
88) 
89) 
90) 
88) The restored primary chest.
89) Another angle.
90) The strips that held some of the signal tubing have been replaced with slightly
heavier pedal webbing.
91) 
92) 
93) 
91) The pump before restoration began.
92) After the manifold had been removed, revealing the pumping bellows. I
literally snorted when I saw inside! The previous "rebuilder" had been too
lazy or inexperienced to rebuild the pump. However, the cloth had developed holes at
the creases and were leaking. To attempt to plug the leaks, they glued circles of
pouch leather over the leaks. I can guarantee you that the pouch leather would have
only stopped these holes up for about one hour worth of operation. After the pump
had run for a brief time, the motion of the bellows would have worn holes right through
the leather. It is similar to attempting to patch a hole in a pair of blue jeans
with tissue paper! To make matters even more comical, when I got the pump the rest
of the way apart, I discovered that they had not taken the unit apart enough to repeat
this "repair" on the opposite side of the bellows.
93) The disassembled pump. This gives you a good idea of how many parts there
are to these pumps. To make matters even more complex, the bellows show in this
photo as one piece each. In fact, the pumping bellows consist of approximately 50
different parts each times four bellows for a total of approximately 200 parts just to the
large pneumatics. In addition, the cut out/amplifier block consists of many
additional parts as well. I have never actually counted all the parts in one of
these pumps but I suspect that the total would be near 1000.
94) 
95) 
96) 
94) This is the stack cut out block. The pouch block
to the right is the cut out valve. There is a round seat inside the block to the
left that this valve seats against. The parts have been disassembled and are ready
for rebuilding.
95) The block has been repainted on the outside and the inside has been filled with
shellac and the left to drain so that it will be absolutely air tight. The spill
valve (square valve in middle of picture) has been recovered and the cut out pouch well
has been resealed. The first three sides of the amplifier pneumatic have been
recovered and the glue is setting. Later, the hinge end will also be glued down.
The spill plate (left) has been resealed as well, leaving the wood bare in the area
where the new gasket will glue to it.
96) A better view of how the pump manifold/cut out has been resealed and a view of
the cut out pouch with a new chrome tanned pouch. This is a very large and slow
moving pouch. It isn't necessary to use the very thin, flexible pouch leather (brown
in color) that is used in most pouch applications. This type of leather is tougher
and will last better and seal better than what was used originally.
97) 
98) 
99) 
97) The bellows are now due to be restored. First, the
original cloth coverings are removed by taking out the reinforcing tacks and steaming the
cloth just long enough to soften the glue. Then the glue residue is cleaned off at
the sanding station. However, parts of the fixed board on these can't be gotten at
with any machine. The boards are, therefore, clamped to the bench and the surfaces
are scraped and sanded clean.
98) The cleaned bellows with all pneumatic cloth and original hinges removed.
Now it is time to replace the inside (left) and outside (right) flap valves.
99) The outside flap valve has been removed and the insides have also been removed.
The removal of the inside flaps reveals the leather seats that they mate against.
All the leather that these flaps were made from was still good. However, I
chose to replace all of it anyway. The wires running down the middle of these
leather seats are intended to help reduce any sound that the flap valves might make.
These, in fact, aren't really needed. However, I have a technique for
releathering the flaps which accommodate the use of them while eliminating some of the
problems associated with them. Because these wires are so thick, they can interfere
with the flap valves sealing properly at first. Eventually, the leather takes their
shape and starts to seal. However, that can take a while. If the leather
available at the time isn't supple enough, it may never seal around these wires.
100) 
101) 
102) 
100) The wires have been removed and the leather seats also
have been removed and the wood thoroughly scraped and sanded. The new leather seats
have a groove cut in them to help the wires to sit slightly lower in profile so that the
flap valves won't have as much trouble sealing around them. The first flap valve is
attached at the top and ready to be stretched over the seat and aligned for a proper seal.
101) The flap valves have been replaced on the first bellows.
102) The new hinges are glued down to the insides of the boards. When the glue
sets, the boards are clamped together and then the hinges are glued down on the outsides
as well thus securing the boards together very firmly while remaining very flexible.
The hinge material I use for this task is a bit stronger than was used originally.
103) 
104) 
105) 
103) This photo shows an old set of leather seats after they
were removed from the board sitting next to the new duplicates. One cardinal rule of
player pianos is that leather does NOT seal against leather. Amphion breaks this
rule more than once. However, there is a purpose in this case. It is intended
that the valves leak slightly to avoid noise and keep the air stream steady.
However, rather than install these leather seats with the heavy suede side facing the
suede sides of the flap valves, I glued the suede sides down to the wood. This
particular leather has a very hard and smooth shiny side. It makes an excellent seat
material for the flaps. In addition, if I had wanted to glue these seats down the
way Amphion had done it, I would have had to skive the shiny side. This means
slicing cuts in the leather or sanding the leather so that the glue would have something
to bite onto.
104) The covering of the bellows is a difficult operation because of their shape.
The cloth must be cut and glued with a nonstandard technique. Each side is
glued and tacked into place and then heated with an iron to drive the glue deep into the
cloth as well as driving out any excess. After this, the next side is glued down in
the same way, and so on.
105) The first three sides have been glued down and tacked, then ironed. Now
the glue is allowed to set before the hinge ends are done. Also, the excess cloth is
now trimmed off with the hinge end material only being left behind.
106) 
107)
108) 
106) The bellows are clamped shut, then the hinge ends are
glued into place and tacked. Then the bellows are left over night to let the glue
get very hard before the clamps are removed.
107) Now it's time to put the pump back together. First the suction manifold
which connects all the bellows to each other is cleaned of old gasket material and
repainted.
108) New leather gaskets are now installed onto the manifold. Cork was used
originally but I feel the leather is more air tight and easier to get apart without damage
in the future.