Patrick Boeckstijns asked about a Steck upright player:

> It's supposed to be dating from around 1925. ...  I thought
> that 65-note players were much earlier models.

Correct.  In fact, it is much more usual to find old 65-note players
converted to an 88-note version, usually by one of the Aeolian Co
subsidiaries after they had been traded in.  This requires an entirely
new player action, and the work was always done so skillfully that you
cannot tell the conversion from a new player, except for the date of
the piano.  I have seen two large Steck uprights -- made before the
Aeolian Co purchase of the George Steck company in 1901 -- fitted with
88-note actions which did not appear until 1908.

However, you do find dual 65/88-note actions fitted in 1920s pianos.
The owners usually had large 65-note roll collections and wanted to
play new 88-note titles as well.

Patrick's Steck seems to be another variant of this:- a 65-note
action in a new piano.  This would have been a cheap option, since the
Aeolian subsidiary would have plenty of 65-note actions taken out of
pianos being converted to 88-note.

Although the British Steck and Weber uprights were all slightly
different, they did have some common dimensions.  Steve Cox once
lost his temper with a Weber action and jumped up and down on top of it
(screaming, I've no doubt, though he didn't say so) before setting fire
to it in his garden.

The following week a customer asked if the nice Weber he had for sale
could be fitted with a player action.  It so happened I had a Steck
action from a London dealer who was gutting players and offered it to
him.  It was one inch longer than the missing action, but the main
mounting holes lined up, so Steve sawed half an inch off each end and
it dropped straight in and played with no adjustment needed to any of
the wippens.  (I took payment in rolls.)

The lead weights in keys were taken out by dealers to make them go up
and down.  Customers often preferred this.

Dan Wilson, London