Player pianos work via a vacuum, where air is sucked through a few pin points in a piano roll with a bellows. A series of pipes leading to each key translate these small holes into notes.

The old-school mechanics of a player piano use a bellows and valve system to suck air through dozens of holes, making the action hit a string whenever a hole is present in the piano roll.

So Gilbert did what player piano owners have been doing for decades ... It fell to Bryant to bring them back to life with new rubber hoses, bellows and elbow grease. “They sold like hotcakes ...