I believe that this is the second time that this thread has come up.
Last night I had occasion to drop over to a colleague's house to do a
touch-up tuning on a tiger oak Stanley 'Solodant' upright that I
restored maybe four years ago.  I always intended to get them a pump,
but somehow never came across one reasonably-priced, and this piano
certainly would not get the constant use that mine does.

Checking out all the player systems, I found everything to be running
smooth as silk.  Now, they do have an electrostatic filter on the
furnace, which explains why so little dust was on the black stack
surfaces behind the front panel.  Nonetheless, I said, "Gerry, I'll
just pump out the tracker bar and show you how much house and roll dust
has accumulated."  To my surprise, only two punchings and barely any
lint.

"Gerry, don't you use the piano anymore?"

"Yes, at least once a week and it really got a workout over Christmas
and Superbowl Weekend."  I'm scratchin' my head over this.

"Well Dave, Nancy remembered you saying something about running the
crevice tool over the bar so I took a spare one, stuck this short piece
of rubber (7/32") tube I found in the bench in the end, taped 'er up,
and she runs it over the bar every week.  We keep it in the bench."

"Show me how you do that, Nanc."

The lady has a fine efficient touch.  Since there are no scratches on
the bar I'd say that Gerry and Nancy have proved the point.  Of course,
a domestic vacuum cannot provide the suction level of a well-greased
pump but hey, they're using a "Filtre-Queen" -- and I saw the results
with my own eyes.

I had brought a spare pump with me, and left it with them anyway,
encouraging it's use.  "It'll be good bicep exercise for your son."

Dave Kerr