Restoration of a Steinway Duo-Art Reproducing Grand for the Schlieter Family
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25) The motor governor is being reassembled. Here you can see new pouch
leather (left) has been installed into the area that will hold the brass tempo plate
(top). This was removed in order to be able to resurface the slide valve base on the
other side of the box. (to the right of the pouch leather) It is critical that
all valve surfaces inside this unit be absolutely air tight for the tempo to be correct
and for the governor to keep the motor running evenly.
26) The finished motor governor.
27) Power switch pneumatic before restoration.
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28) Power switch pneumatic restored.
29) Dance pneumatic and pedal pneumatic and valve before restoration.
30) #29 after restoration.
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31) Restored valve box that sends rewind and play signals to numerous devices
throughout the system.
32) Play/rewind pneumatic and valve box before restoration.
33) Play/rewind pneumatic being recovered.
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34) Play/rewind pneumatic and valve box restored.
35) The various components of the Duo-Art system were removed one at a time and
restored immediately before the next component was removed. Now, you can see that
the under side of this Steinway grand is completely gutted except for a few control arms.
36) The pneumatic stack (that actually plays the notes of the piano) before
restoration.
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37) The pneumatic stack before restoration again.
38) The three tiers of the pneumatic stack have been dismantled. Now the
pneumatics are to be removed and, themselves, dismantled.
39) The pneumatics have been removed and dismantled. The old cloth has been
cleaned off as have the old pouch leather gaskets. Now the pneumatics are being
recovered.
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40) Some of the pneumatics after being recovered. Each tier gets its own tray
and each pneumatic is numbered. Each pneumatic lifter finger is also numbered.
41) Recovering a stack pneumatic.
42) Replacing the outside valve plates. This piano was made with infamous
cross valve plates. These plates place cross shaped impressions into the leather of
the valves. If the valves rotate even the slightest amount during play or during
shipment, they won't seal against their plates. Looking carefully at the white
leather on the valves, you can perceive the cross shaped impressions in the leather.
New plate gaskets are also being installed with these outside valve plates.
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43) The new valve plates are round instead of cross shaped. They will not put
any impressions in the leathers and, therefore, they will seal reliably for years to come.
44) A cross valve plate and its original valve leather on the left with a new valve
plate and a releathered valve on the right. The original plates were made of
aluminum and were very flimsy compared to the new stainless steel plates.
45) One of the releathered valves is being tested on the test block to make sure it
is sealing well and that the leather is good.
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46) Gluing the recovered pneumatics back onto the valve
boards.
47) A set of pneumatics with their lifter fingers reattached and their hinge springs
reinstalled.
48) The pneumatics have been fitted with paper gaskets so that the next time they
are removed for restoration, the rebuilder will not damage them getting them off the
trunks. They will remain tightly glued and air tight for many years with these
gaskets but can still be pried off the trunks easily with no damage to the pneumatics or
the trunks.
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