Hello all!
Just wanted to share that I successfully replaced the felt (on the bass pallets only at the moment) on my older G/C Pokerwork, using felt from Mr. Charlie Marshall and instruction from Lester Bailey's indispensable video series on YouTube. To be honest, I wouldn't have had the nerve or inclination to tear-into this fine box if it wasn't for Lester's thorough and casual style of demonstrating the techniques and I'm so grateful he took the time to do this! Watching the whole series made me feel familiar with the previously-hidden-innards of the box and gave me the confidence to slowly and methodically plan the project... This attempt was particularly important to me, since I've absolutely loved learning how to play recently and I practice in every spare moment I have, but I'm pretty isolated here and I didn't like the thought of having to ship it away to fix any damage that (my completely elective) surgery might have caused... But, thanks to Lester (!), the bass side is nearly 'clack-free' and, maybe more importantly, I feel so much more familiar with the design and construction of this box and won't feel nearly as blindsided if something unexpectedly goes awry in the future.
Here's a few quick notes, if anyone is interested in thoughts of a beginner player who's only done this once! None of this is a critique to Lester's approach, only a report of my experience.
First, I did a few glue tests on tiny pieces of the felt before proceeding, as the 'wood glue' I had handy didn't say PV or anything similar to what Lester appeared to use. I tried just three glues, using small pieces of felt on a random piece of unfinished wood - TiteBond Wood glue, E6000 Industrial craft glue, and WeldBond all purpose glue. All held fine after 24hrs, with the WeldBond appearing the strongest (just based on trying to rip the felt off later!), however I thought it worth noting here that I left this test peice of wood in the sun for a few hours (with the thought it might help the glue cure) and came back to find all the felt/leather pieces completely delaminating and just effortlessly sliding away from one another... Didn't know what to think about that, so I just took the wood into the garage and let it sit over night. The next day the glue bond between the felt and leather appeared to have solidified again, but it seem worth noting that (at least this particular batch of material) probably shouldn't be subjected to higher heats... I proceeded with the refacing project anyway because I'd never leave my box in the sun or a hot place, but I just wanted to note that here.
In general, I really took my time with this project, splitting it into two full afternoons - both to let the glue dry thoroughly before reinstalling the pallets and (most importantly) so I wasn't in the mindset of rushing through the steps with the hope to get it done as quickly as possible! This is where I always tended to to wrong with projects like these in the past, and it felt great to take as much time as I needed, give each step my full attention, and just 'fettle'! So as not to write more than needed here, below are some main points I learned (in no real order)!
- use care and caution while sanding and resurfacing the pallet bottoms - a less-than-flat bottom really could be a disaster (to my eyes), and although I had this in mind in the beginning, I did complete a lot sanding to remove the old glue thoroughly, and while the bases remained square and flat, a mis-step here could be trouble.
- give the pallets a tiny bit more space between one another while gluing them to the felt sheet, as this would allow a potentially-cleaner 'sqaure' cut with the razor knife. As it was, I carefully glued each pallet very nearly touching one another, and I had to be conscious not to either knick a palett edge or cut the felt slightly at an angle since I couldn't square the blade as well.
- I numbered everything I could before disassembling (pallets, arms, pallet placement, etc.) but didn't think to trace the exact original pallet position (as I thought there might a faint 'shadow' of their original positions) but there wasn't and a precise tracing would've been helpful in either case. However, I did take a final digital photo before disassembling and this actually came in handy a few times where my markings still didn't suffice. In short, I'd recommend marking everything as thoroughly possible before disassembling, as what appears completely intuitive when connected looks a little less familiar when detached in a pile, and some of the arms take unusual bends to find their button holes.
- the hot glue worked great! I practiced before proceeding (as advised here on a different thread) and also had a several small pieces of clear thin plastic handy (that I saved from the trash) to catch any lingering threads and break them free. In the end I had 'perfect' blobs of hot glue, exactly where I intended with no residual mess. I can see how this step could go awry through with either speed or technique and I wasn't looking forward to making a mess with this stuff - but very satisfying and effective!
- I also identified some secondary 'clacking' where the arms attach to the vertical pivot points and the joint the tiny bent nail goes through, and before replacing those nails with new ones upon reassembly, I very carefully bent that connection a little tighter. Everything still pivots perfectly with no friction, but an audible 'loose noise' that could be heard while playing has disappeared completely. Otherwise, the lever bending (to adjust the finished button depth to account for the thicker felt), which I was very reluctant to consider doing in the fear that something would snap unexpectedly, all went perfectly. Just wanted to encourage others to make tiny(!) adjustments where ever needed, as although everything does appear petty light-duty and fragile, a few small tweaks can really make a difference. I also bought some powdered graphite and mixed it with alcohol, painting all the moving joints, which eliminated some slight squeaks all well and just felt great to do for this fine old box!
- Lastly, I didn't want to order a special tool to ream and expand the bass button holes to complete the bushing portion of the project, but it definitely appeared that this model could really use such a treatment, as there was quite a bit of space between the sides of the plastic buttons and the holes in the casing and this was definitely the source of a lot of unwanted noise. I racked my brain with ideas that could potentially work without expanding the holes and (after much pondering and a few failed trials!) found that the plastic shaft of a standard-looking ball point pen was actually the perfect(!) diameter to fit around the base of the buttons (slid over the detached metal arm and carefully persuaded over the button's base), but was ever-so-slightly too thick to work well with the original holes. I fixed this with just slight sanding to both the holes and the plastic shaft itself,and the result is perfect (to my taste, at least!) - zero unwanted movement or noise from the buttons with lean and frictionless inward/outward travel, and dirt cheap! I attached a photo, but it might be hard to discern the plastic 'pen sheath' from the actual buttons, as the similar plastic colors blend nicely... Anyway, this whole project made me feel resourceful and satisfied!
Okay, I hope no one minds this lengthy note! I was excited to share my experiences since I was hesitant to start a project like this that might end with me causing more harm than good, but all the effort really resulted in a much quieter, smoother bass side and it was definitely empowering to become more familiar with the instrument. Thank you Lester for the videos!
I will also add quickly that I bought an incredibly comfortable bass hand strap from Charlie Marshall and bass feet, all of which were easy to install and (combined with new double Neotech shoulder straps) has really transformed the feel of the box for me! After considering all the various (equally valid ;-) responses to my previous strap inquiry, I decided the thought of double straps appealed most to me, and (combined with the adjustable bass strap) they've been incredible already! I've been practicing predominantly using my bass hand to control the bellows and keeping the treble side relatively stable (and suspended at my chest) which completely liberates my right hand from the thumb strap to traverse the buttons and slide only the keyboard edge - transformative! I've also started walking around our little farm while playing, with the box comfortably suspended - honestly, not many instruments can be this fun, this quickly!
Thanks to all for your excellent advice and support!
Rich
