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A great production Nate, if there were any hiccups the whole crowd was with you all the way. Congratulations on a lovely restored Fotoplayer and your timing in the performance was spot on!

Thanks Nate. the Fotoplayer sounds fantastic and this tune is great.

Ive seen the middle pedal do different things on different pianos. My old 1885 Behning and Son only has 2 pedals. Sustain on right, Damper on the left and the middle either sustaians the note(s) once pressed and makes all other notes play unsustained. As long as you press the keys first, then press the middle pedal to sustain and continue playing while it sustains. Other times ive seen the middle pedal damper only the keys from C4 and lower.

I have been re building a 1916 AutoPiano player piano for about two years now. Have only the strings, pins and hammers done so far.

What happened to your videos, i dont see anymore

Where can i buy the pump with this?

Hello, Nate I am appreciative of you for making this channel. I recently got a hold of a player piano similar to yours. And are in the process of studying up to restore it. I look forward to taking notes from your videos. 😄🎉🎆🎇

Haha! Quite a humorous melodrama indeed.

GET OVER HERE JOE

I appreciate you keeping the fotoplayer history alive

Back in the mid 90s, I inherited an 8.5 foot Conover grand piano - the one I grew up with - built in the early 1900s. The pin block was a disaster, the shell had endured over 40 years of people smoking. I had no room for it, but couldn't stand the thought of it being put to the curb. I lived 250 miles from my homestead, but knew a piano technician. We hooked his trailer to my wife's station wagon and made the trek to retrieve it. I knew how to tune a piano [thanks to the Conover], that was about it. The tech found for me a free 1907 Shoninger upright, in good cosmetic condition [good pin block and strings] needing help with the action. I gave Joe the Conover and he educated me - in his shop - on rebuilding a piano action. WOW! And that wasn't a pianola, even. That old Shoninger held A440. We were both amazed. Saved that one, Joe rebuilt the Conover, I cleaned it, he sold it for enough to take care of two years tuition in college for his daughter. Win, win! Your efforts and growing collection are a testament to the preservation of instruments. Good on you!

Those felts, especially the backcheck felts, don't look a hundred years old. Fifty maybe, but not a hundred. I'm guessing this was refurbished at some time in it's life.

Oh! And Nate, what is the song in the middle of the movie? “The End to a Perfect Day”? Was there originally a sing-along in the middle of the film?

Uh oh! Someone needed a premium prescription! 😮 I salute you sir! You managed it with calm aplomb!

Was riveted by the series. Informative, entertaining and educational. Well done indeed

When is the next video coming out?

Nate! This is wonderful! I can’t believe all these years I’ve watched old films with no music. It’s incredible how much the sound effects and music add to a silent film. It really doesn’t look like a silent film, it just looks like a film without dialogue.

Did the original bulb still work?

17:20 I've worked on a lot of this old rubber/cloth electrical wiring, and I've found that where it is exposed to the air (at the ends) it tends to degrade very badly, but inside the conduit, where there is little or no exposure to air, it looks almost brand new. So the easy, but not very authentic, solution is just to put heatshrink over the ends for about the last 4" or so.

4:44 I think you mean "Bondo brand auto body filler" as glazing putty is for fixing windows, and it's a very oily putty that takes weeks or months to dry completely. So I doubt you'd be using that on a piano.

1:23 Who was Russ Cavanaugh? A tuner?

9:33 Is that cellulose nitrate?

9:54 For fixing a damaged piano roll, try clear spray paint. It sort of soaks into the paper and reinforces it, almost like lamination without adding any thickness or stiffness. Takes a while to dry but it's worth it.

Thanks very much for this series, I have a 1919 Cable-Nelson with a Simplex action but I'm thinking about replacing it with an Autopiano action, and this has been incredibly helpful.

10:50 What is the name of this screwdriver?

2:08 Why does the iron say "Demo Only"?

8:00 If you only plan to have the player mechanism play the piano, versus a human playing the piano, how critical is it to remove the slop in the keys? Can this step be skipped?

Those old electric motors were so overbuilt I’d bet they’d last a million years!

I do not get it but I love it.

Hi there. What’s the number of this role? It looks like it’s a QRS, but I’m not sure of the number.

Wow, Nice work !!!!

I'm so glad I found you on RUclips. I have 2 player pianos. I have an old Haines Brothers 52 inch upright and then I have a newer 1980s Aeolian Keepsakes upright player. (45 inch piano) the piano is taller than the actual instrument inside. (deceptive) LOL

What was the material you used for covering the exhausters???? and resevoir?

Nate, your craftsmanship is superb! I am so impressed with the careful detail you give each section of the player. Thanks for posting this series!

Very well explained, a complex mechanism indeed. And your outtakes at the end were enjoyable! Good doggie!

C'est génial de voir le fonctionnement des films de l'époque, j'ai adoré 👍

Hey Nate. I’m loving this series, and feel a kinship with my own memories of going to North Tonawanda (Buffalo) New York to play on my grandparents’ player that my uncle restored. From the snow, and accent, I’m guessing you’re back east too? I have a leaky player piano that I want to fix, but am a bit daunted as to where I would go to find the myriad of materials I should get for everything, or homemade solutions when appropriate and necessary. Things like leather for pouches, felt, silicone, tools, pneumatic hoses, and bellows cloth etc. Would you consider making a video sharing any active sources for products that you buy, and/or making affiliated links to materials/tools that you get? Thanks for your videos and humor! If ever you’d consider taking on a “Zoom” apprentice, I’d love to connect and learn more from you as I begin my process.

Redoing my air motor now, was good to watch this again as a refresher 😁 Clever to use one of the old boards as a spacing jig for the pneumatic span!

Joe?

Do you restore grand players ever? Is one easier than the other?

I know this is eight mos later but, I also have (my very first) a 1916 Autopiano Pianista and I restrung it last year and the action was rebuilt and will be here in my shop in a few days. I'm really looking forward to having this beauty up and running one day soon.

Hi there , can you tell me where you source your pouch leather from?

You are just amazing. How can you do all of this. Nice Job I wish you lived next door i now have two electric, and 2 pump type pianos

5:50 - Gloomy Manor ( Luigi's Mansion 2 )

I have 4 player pianos that need things done to them 😅

I have not done a valve rebuild for over 25 years so materials and methods change. Now I am rebuilding a Autopiano valves with the screw on outter facings and they have no wobble. How were these built originally to have wobble. Also this piano has been rebuilt in the past and the facings have no felt between the leather and and disk like yours. Any suggestions?

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.

lol,.. hammering in the screws at 20:25

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.

This is going to My Christmas Song Selection 😊