Hi all,  I have a dream that I wanted to share with you all and get
your comments/suggestions, and obstacles perhaps ideas of how to
overcome them.

I bought recently on eBay a complete Duo-Art mechanism (except for the
pump).  While I would love to have another reproducing grand in my
collection (i.e., buy a Steinway ex-Duo-Art, as they are so affordable
right now, and install the parts), my partner would consider this
grounds for divorce.  In any event, I live in Israel in a small house
and he's right: it's impractical -- no room for two grand pianos and
I'm not about to give up my Knabe Ampico.

That said, I've been working up an idea for converting the mechanism to
a Vorsetzer, building a cabinet and arranging the parts to play my
piano.  The idea here is to make the cabinet as small as possible and
attractive so as not to attract extra attention while it's not playing;
I think I can get away with that.

Right now I've thought of two potential problems, but I'm sure that
there are others I haven't thought of; if anyone has suggestions of how
to solve them, I'd appreciate your inputs.  The first problem is the
soft pedal (for the piano technicians out there): how much power is
required to move a transposing pedal on a regulated grand?

The second problem I thought of is the alignment of the keys.  In a
Welte Vorsetzer the pneumatics are evenly spaced, but for a reproducing
grand they are connected under the keyboard and hence there are some
extra spaces that I'll have to account for.

It would probably be easier to build this from a mechanism that came
out of an upright, but since I've got a mechanism from a grand, I'll
have to adapt what I've got.  Anyone out there have any inputs?

Eliyahu Shahar

 [ See the photos of the Duo-Art push-up player built by Douglas
 [ Heffer, at http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/  -- Robbie