Restoration of a Foster Pratt-Read Player Piano for Robert and Kris Lukowski
61) 
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63) 
61) Now that the pallet valve had been restored and no more needs to be
done to restore the inside of the governor, the cover board which gives easy access to the
interior for future servicing can be put back in place. Usually, these boards are
given a thin strip of leather around the perimeter. I found it easier to simply
cover the entire board with leather and trim it evenly to the edges of the board.
It makes for an excellent seal and helps prevent future warpage of this board.
62) The finished wind motor governor from one angle. At the upper left, you
can see the tiny pneumatic which is added to compensate for some unknown flaw found by
P-R. I'm sure there would have been an easier way to perfect the operation of the
governor since few other governors in existence use such a tiny pneumatic placed where it
has so little mechanical leverage. Still, to keep things authentic, I restored it
properly as original to the factory.
63) The governor again showing the freshly gasketed mounting block as well.
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65) 
66) 
64) This is one of two wind control blocks. This one feeds wind
from the reservoir to the bass notes. The other one has the job of feeding wind to
the treble and to the damper pedal. Each of these is set up with many wires and
linkages so that they can be used to block off the air so that the piano stays silent
during rewind. Without these blocks, the songs would play backwards very rapidly
during rewind. At the same time, these must not be sites for air loss and must not
let any notes play lightly (cipher) during rewind so the gaskets and slide valves must all
be restored to at least factory quality perfection.
65) The restored bass valve is ready to be screwed back together.
66) The pedals are housed inside a little "house" which is made from
plywood with pretty woods facing in where the user can see them. In order to keep
the orientation of the bellows so that it is practical and will fit the piano, little
wedges must be placed between the mounting brackets on the pedal base and the pneumatics.
The original wedges were made of softwood which was soggy, flaccid and fragile.
I replaced it with rock maple wedges made from scratch. You can see the old
and new wedges side by side in this photo.
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68) 
69) 
67) The bottom board of the pedal box was a total loss due to water
damage. You can see it at the back of this photo, including the worst of the broken
areas. I replaced it with a new plywood bottom which was twice as thick as the
original. Any clearance issues caused by the change in thickness will be corrected
if they turn up. In the mean time, the original allowed me to make an exact
duplicate in every detail.
68) The back board of the pedal box had a beautiful layer of mahogany facing the
user which I did not want to loose. However, it was delaminating as well. At
the top of this glue up shown in this photo is the layer of wood which came off of this
board. I used some Swietenia Mahogany (commonly referred to as Honduran Mahogany)
which I happened to have in stock. It is very thick for veneer and will serve to
make this board better and stronger than new whilst honoring the original woods
used. The salvageable part of the board was warping almost as soon as I got the old
veneer off of it. Because of how it was warping, I was able to apply ample amounts
of thinned hot hide glue to that board (the moisture of the glue corrected the warpage)
and then I taped it to the new backer wood so that it would not slip. Then I
sandwiched the entire thing between two flat and sturdy boards to dry and cure over the
weekend.
69) The sides of the pedal box contain brass pivots for the pumping mechanisms and a
number of different rods, cotter keys, fiber washers and metal connectors. All of
these were cleaned up and relubricated. They were also put back together in such a
way that all slop, potential noises and freedom of motion were all made to work at their
best.
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72) 
70) This is the other side of the pedal box containing the parts that
have not been restored yet.
71) When you pull the pedals out to use the piano, they rest on two hard rubber pads
which are fitted around two wooden buttons which fit up into holes that are drilled into
the pedal assembly. This photo shows me replacing the old rubber with very thick and
durable black cow hide. After the glue has had a chance to set, the button's stem
and the leather are coated with more glue, inserted back into the metal pedal bar and
clamped down firmly.
72) Before the leathered buttons are placed into the pedal bar they are formed
around the wood button by gluing up the button and driving it all into an arch punch and
then the rest (which has been relief cut so it will fit) of the leather is gathered around
the button and pressed down hard against the back shoulder of the button and held there
with another arch punch.
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75) 
73) The usual way to recover the pumping pedals is with rather ordinary
rubber. The good aspect of rubber is that is has traction, even lines to help with
traction and is hard enough to withstand some use. The hard and thick leather I used
here has all the qualities of the rubber plus is is attractive. Both the rubber and
the leather collect dust but the leather is easier to clean. Both will wear out one
day but I just like the look of the leather even if it is a little more expensive; alright
a lot more expensive...
74) A demonstration photo that is intended to help you understand how the rubber
buttons work and how they are installed more clearly.
75) Here are a few photos of the pedal box after restoration. The bottom board
is new, the back board has been reconstructed as described earlier, the metal has been
cleaned up and all the moving parts have been set up for appropriate action, not to loose,
not to snug and then given a fine coating of bearing grease which should prevent any
squeaks in the future. The fact that I used a little grease at this phase should not
be taken as a mandate to slather the pedal box with grease all the time. The grease
that is there is in proper amounts and should be sufficient to last for many years of hard
use. If, at some time in the future, noises associated with a need for grease crop
up, all the old grease should first be removed and then the new grease installed.
This involves pulling the pump and should be done by a professional.
76) 
77) 
78) 
76) A shot of the pedal box with the pedals down exposing the beautiful
grain of the leather coverings I used.
77) This shot is from another angle to help you get the big picture. The back
side of the back board is layered in a 1/6" layer of Honduran mahogany. The
original material was quite thin and the moisture problem that plagued the entire pump had
caused it to come unglued.
78) This shot lets you see the layer of wood added to the back of the pedal box more
clearly.
79) 
80) 
81) 
79) With the pedal box complete, I return to the job of finishing the
pneumatics. I had been allowing the glue to cure while I worked on the pedal
box. Now that glue is as good as it can get and I may begin. As mentioned
earlier, this system was never designed to have the ability to accent notes by giving the
pedals a good thrust as in the Autopiano. I have built the necessary parts into the
pump to make this function possible. Since almost every board in the pump was ruined
or just barely restorable, I had to do a great deal with the parts anyway so why not take
an extra couple of weeks to improve the pump rather than just rebuilding it to original
middle grade standards. In this photo, you can see the reservoir before it was
covered with rubberized cloth. The photo of the inside of the reservoir shows the
two extra spacer blocks that I added to supplement the original hard felt spacer
block. Originally, there was just the one block. But, when the reservoir was
fully collapsed during loud play, this permitted the movable board of the reservoir to
warp and bend under the tension inside. By having three blocks that are all the same
height, I can ensure that the movable board will never be able to warp or bend during
play. Another item to notice here is that the two crash valves I discussed earlier
have been installed. Since I wanted to make it possible for a future rebuilder to
remove the pumping bellows without dealing with impossible glue joints, I gasketed and
screwed the pumping bellows to the reservoir instead. After I had these screwed down
firmly, I checked them to make sure the gaskets were holding all air from leaking
in. Then I checked to make sure that a sudden thrust of a pumping bellow would pull
these crash pneumatics shut allowing air to be redirected straight to the pneumatic stack
so that the player pianist could pick out individual notes. This, you will recall,
also involved the creation of a small trunk for each bellow. I did not combine the
system into one long trunk because I wanted to permit the artist to be able to send high
pressure to bass and treble at will. The design of the system does not totally
divide bass from treble (as one would find in a reproducing player piano) but it does
create a tendency for the treble to respond more when the right pedal is thrust firmly and
the bass when the left pedal is thrust firmly. As I said, it turned into a lot of
extra work. Just for one example; it took almost an entire day just to get the crash
valve springs right so that they would permit plenty of air to pass through but would slam
shut during an accent thrust.
80) This is the other side of the reservoir, showing the pumping bellows after
having been screwed into place onto the reservoir. The way the screws were done, I
had to screw the bellows into place before I covered the reservoir with pneumatic
cloth. I could have made it possible to remove or tighten the bellows without
uncovering the reservoir but this would have required upwards of 50 holes to be drilled
into the movable board (each of which would have to have a circle of pneumatic cloth glued
over them. That many holes would have weakened the board too much. So, if one
has to remove a pumping bellow, they will have to remove the pneumatic cloth from the
reservoir. This is a small price to pay considering the alternatives. If,
some day, the bellows gaskets do develop a tendency to leak, a professional could remove
the cloth from the reservoir, unscrew the bellows, paint the gaskets with thick shellac
and screw it back together again. This would solve the leak but would make it such
that removing the pumping bellows the next time would ruin the gasket which would have to
be replaced. I used a combination of solid oak and cross grained plywood to make up
the bellows so the screws have good, strong, stable wood to bite into. I would
doubt any problems will occur any time in the foreseeable future.
81) Installing the sealing cloth over the hinge end of the reservoir. To keep
the pneumatic flexible, the boards of the reservoir have to be clamped into the closed
position and then the sealing cloth glued over it. This will leave the maximum of
flexibility. By nailing the material down every few inches, I add strength to
reinforce the hinge at the same time.
82) 
83) 
84) 
82) Now the reservoir is recovered and you can see one of the openings
which permits air to flow in from the rest of the player unit. Each part that has to
be screwed to the bellows has to have a leather gasket which is saturated with very thick
shellac. Other designs of pumps allow a trunk board that is large enough that all
attached parts can be just leather gaskets and screws. But this design of pump
requires that pneumatic cloth be present at the point of attachment. There is no
other way around it. So the shellac is added to ensure that the parts remain air
tight.
83) These last two pictures of the pump feature the side springs. These
springs permit the pneumatic to return to their rest position. The reservoir spring
lets the reservoir act as an vacuum equalizer at the same time that is works as a spare
suction supply and an accent device. The springs on the pumping bellows allow the
pedal to return after each pump with your foot and for the bellows to close after a
pumping thrust, ready for another pump. The original design was to drill holes into
the sides of the pneumatics and run the spring up into the holes then hold them in place
with a metal cap that has a screw. This keeps the spring from working loose.
The problem with this design is that it is being done into the sides of a plywood
board. The springs had all caused a certain amount of cracking at the joints between
the layers. Where it was practical and possible, I reused the original design but
the reservoir simply could not be asked to withstand the pressure of the springs on both
sides. So I added an oak block to the back of each side of the reservoir into which
I was able to insert the spring. This will last indefinitely, causing no stress to
the delicate areas of the pneumatic boards.
84) A final shot of the pump with the pedals down.
85) 
86) 
87) 
85) The damper pedal lifting mechanism before restoration.
86) The valve block for the damper pedal being restored. You can see that it
contains four valves. This is because the unit operates on a design which uses high
suction levels but draws very little actual air. The extra valves ensure that the
fairly large pneumatic needed to lift the dampers can do so rapidly.
87) The back spine of this piano turned out to be totally fallen apart. All
the glue joints except for some at the top near the pin block were totally dried out and
dead, the boards flopping about with nothing holding them together. The piano, it
turns out was left in a house that had suffered a fire and water damage for a considerable
period of time. This probably accounts for the damage to the back spine. The
spine, as it is, cannot be used. I am drying it in the kiln in order to further
weaken the remaining glue joints. The hope being that I can get it apart without
breaking or shattering anything in that area. Then I will have good clean pieces to
use as templates for replacement parts and I can determine with safety and assurance if
any of the boards can be saved and reused since they will be properly dried and their glue
joints totally cleaned and their surfaces planed to a place where they look perfect and
new. If it works out right, it may be possible to take these original component,
plane away all the old, dirty and damaged wood and laminate it with new heavy duty wood
that will reinforce it and return it to its original dimensions. Then it can be
reglued in safety and full knowledge that it will hold up a lifetime provided nobody puts
it in a burned out house again...
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90) 
88) The kiln is having the desired effect. This cover board helps
to lock the support beams and pin block into each other as a cross grain
strengthener. The drying allowed this board to shrink enough that the glue at the
edges failed as it was going to do eventually in any case. It was still no walk in
the park. Over half this frame fell apart of its own accord but those boards whose
glue survived are still very strongly connected. It took an hour of sweat pouring
off me to get this board off the rest of the way whilst causing the least possible damage
to attached components. It will not be reusable but will serve as a good template
for the replacement board. Now that this board is off the frame, the inner glued up
pieces have a better chance for the dry air to reach them and for them to finally finish
letting go. Tension from the strings would, undoubtedly have finished taking them
apart eventually but that would have also taken the piano's plate apart at the same time.
And, depending on how the piano was placed and who was standing where, a glue
failure could potentially take out human life, not just property. So, I work hard
and with a purpose, to save a piano from certain death and to save the potential injuries
that a sudden glue joint failure could produce.
89) As each loose board on the back frame came off, the next board that “seemed”
snug came loose as well. It was merely the tentative joint left in the previous board
causing the next board in to “seem” tight. These boards are the hardwood
“rastin” boards which are used to mount the sound board. They hold the board up;
clearing the back posts and secure it tightly to the edges making the joint between sound
board and rim very strong. This enables the sound to be reflected back into the board as
the said sound vibrations migrate out to the edges. The goal is to keep as much of the
vibration in the sound board/bridge/string/hammer system inside the system rather than
letting it leach away into the cabinet where it cannot receive further amplification or
improvements. These boards will take a little work to get them great again but, although
the glue was terrible and much old wood, glue and finish still adhere to them, once
cleaned up, they will be as good as anything new I could install without going overboard
and making the sound board system a totally new modern design (design which is available
to me but not easy, not cheap and not really called for in this project.) We'll take
these original boards and clean them up until they look new, glue them down and reinforce
them until they are strong than when they were new and the slots for the ribs are still
there for us to use to duplicate the rib design and, therefore, the original tone of the
piano.
90) The deeper I went into this frame, the more problems glue joints I found. I also found
problems with the design of the wood connections which I intend to repair. The original
back posts were made of the finest tight, straight grained spruce. I could not buy spruce
this nice anywhere in America without being a major company like Bosendorfer (who is one
of the last makers that still use this very type of wood for their main framework.) I
search but could find nothing better. The glue joints were horrible but, after the joints
were dismantled and cleaned up, the posts proved to be well worth restoration of
appearance and reinstallation. The entire frame received several months time in the drying
kiln and then another four or five months in the stabilization area and the moisture
content of the wood is not quite correct and quite stable. When I first bit into this
frame, I was sure I’d have to toss everything and make the frame with new wood. But,
after getting it nicely dried and fully apart, I found some fantastic wood that was
begging for reuse. Yes, this wood will require more work than would be involved if I just
replaced it but it is so worth the time and effort considering the quality of this really
special wood. I do have some more posts of equal quality from another piano I took apart
and disposed of all the parts I couldn’t recycle. These posts can be cut up and used
to complete all the structural corrections Foster left undone and strengthen the structure
at the same time it improves the ability of the back frame to resist the collection of
dust bunnies as the old design did.
You will note one board to the right that is very large. It is also quite heavy. It has a
maple plank with maple spacers in between each area where the posts let into the upper
back. This block of wood consists of the posts let into a heavy beam with the pin block,
in between backer board of hard wood, spacer blocks of equal thickness to the posts, the
posts themselves and another backer board behind the posts to bind it all together. The
big problem is that none of this construction allows the natural ability of the wood to
carry load. It puts all the load bearing onto glue joints that hold the various boards
together. Well, we’re going to change that. I’m adding more thickness to the
back posts so that the binding backer boards will be able to rest on a shelf of wood that
is glued all the way down to the bottom of the piano where it again meets a shelf that
transmits the stresses back into the plate; making the entire wood frame and plate
assembly all work together equally to keep the load strong and stable. That means less
tuning needed after the strings have settled down and stopped stretching. It should also
create a better sounding result as the frame will be much stronger.
You see, the original frame had a pin block of three thin layers of maple glued to a thick
mass of solid maple behind it which was, in turn glued to the spacers and posts. The new
assembly will have a full thickness pin block (just like one you could find in a concert
grand piano) with a Black Locust backer board and black locust boards added to the posts
to carry the load.
Why Black Locust? I have done a great deal of research and short of some very bush-like
plants like the Lignum Vitae bush there is no wood that is harder or heavier than Black
Locust. The stuff is murder on shop tools and planers and heavy as all get out to carry
around. But this is what will be holding the assembly together now. In addition, the
multi-laminated thick pin block will serve to give the entire length of the tuning pins
cross banded wood grain to hold the pins tight, stable, durable and easy to tune.
You may note, in the photo, that the spacer blocks that are on the pin block beam (which
is resting against a cabinet on its edge) are made up of scraps of maple left over from
other work the company did. It is traditional to make these spacers out of old scraps with
hundreds of glue joints holding them together. If kept dry, these usually hold up. But any
moisture and this design is a sure fire way to ruin the piano. The new spacers will be
cross banded Black Locust which cannot expand and contract due to the cross banding and is
very solid and stable due to the small quantity of glue joints.
91) 
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91) This shows four of the back frame posts of that straight, tight grained
spruce after I had cleaned them up on the planer to remove as much oxidized wood and dirt
as possible. The difference in dimensions of the boards will be corrected during the
making of the new spacers and they will be strengthened beyond their factory original
strength by the addition of the extra Black Locust stress transfer boards that you will
see shortly.
92) Reassembly is very difficult when you don’t have the jigs that the maker had for
setting up the frames in bulk. I have to make sure each beam is in the correct place
compared to its original location, make sure that the entire thing is set up with the
spacer’s surface level with the beams, the entire post and bottom spacers are set up
square (which the old spacer top beam helps me to accomplish) and the glue I use is strong
and water resistant. In new construction, I would always use epoxy to glue this up but
with antique wood, I prefer to stick to the glue that was used originally or something
water based that is very much like it. The beginning of the glue-up is always the hardest.
When you’ve got a good part of it together and you know it is all solid, square and
will fit to the plate, then the rest of the glue joints that have to be added are
relatively easy. One hard joint will remain and that is the pin block itself. It, I will
probably glue down with epoxy as it will be new wood gluing to new wood. I have to set the
pin block into place correctly, but not glue it up, then I have to install the plate over
it all and make sure all the dimensions are matching up. Then I can screw the plate down
to the original holes that are still there because we reused those boards (new wood will
have to be predrilled for the screws later. And when I say screws, I mean big monster
bolt-like screws. Once that is done, I can mark all the screw holes and tuning pin
locations onto the new pin block and then take it all apart again. I will take the pin
block to the drill press and create all the needed holes and then glue it back into place
with epoxy and the plate along with many clamps to ensure good alignment, and a tight,
well glued joint.
93) Now that the bottom beam is primarily glued up, I am using some clamps to maintain a
square shape and am gluing the upper backer board (or plate) to the top of the posts. More
wood will be glued to the bottom edge of this board leading clear to the bottom beam, new
spacers, backer boards in locust and maple pin blocks are all yet to be glued to this.
Once this picture’s gluing is done and solid, it will be possible to remove all the
clamps and do the last glue up work without the need of diagonal clamps to hold it square
or extra clamps all over to keep the new joints from being overstressed. The assembly will
be strong enough after this batch is dry that it can hold its own against anything I want
to give it by then.
94) 
94) This photo shows me beginning to glue on the tuning pin block structure.
Normally this consists of a thick block of solid maple and is covered by a thin three
cross banded layer of maple (1/2” thick). In this case, I am using a multi-layer new
pin block of maple as a clamping caul. It is not, of itself, thick enough to match the
original dimensions of the assembly. I am gluing a backer board behind it just as was done
originally. Except, in this case, instead of the pins being held a little by a cross
banded pin block of small consequence, it will be held by a real full thickness pin block.
The board that is backing up this pin block is made to complete matching the area’s
thickness to the original and the board is made of Black Locust. This wood is difficult to
work with if not properly seasoned. This board was bought by me after having seasoned two
years under a roof outdoors in a properly stickered drying pile. Then it went into a new
pile in a storage/drying shed I have and was stickered there as well so that the sticks
separating each layer will allow air to flow between the front and back surfaces of each
board. This board has been on that drying pile for three years. Black Locust has very
little water in it when it is cut down but slow air drying really helps prevent case
hardening and makes the wood disinclined to warp or twist. This wood has a much high
specific gravity than maple (meaning it’s heavier and harder). I chose it because it
will add a great deal more strength than a plane board that normally is used would add. I
will be letting this assembly sit for a week or so to be sure the glue is dried and cured
rock solid before I remove the clamps. I will periodically go around it and made sure that
the clamps are still as tight as you can get them. After this step in the construction is
done, I will be fitting the boards that hold the sound board in place and which hold the
bottom of the plate in alignment with the frame. I will also be adding additional
structural elements that I hope will add additional strength to the frame (elements which
were not used originally.)
© Copyright 2010 {David Rodgers' Piano Rebuilding}. All Rights Reserved.