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I was going through the MMD Archives the other day, trying to solve
some of the tubing problems on a very early Steinway Duo-Art, and
I came across a message posted by Eric Shoemaker last August 12th,
2003 [030812 MMDigest].  I had the same problem with a double pallet
valve on the rear of the Duo-Art expression box.  Also there was
a double pallet valve on the soft pedal pneumatic.

By coincidence, I just came across an article in the November/December
issue of the AMICA Bulletin, written by Geoffey Kaiser.  This is an
absolutely fascinating article on many of the quirky aspects of the
Duo-Art action.  And, to top it all off, the first thing he writes
about are the "two" extra double pallet valves on the early models.

The double pallet valve on the soft pedal is connected to the #2 Theme
and #2 Accompaniment, respectively.  He said that it was used on pianos
that needed smoother action or player adjustment, and then added that a
well-adjusted piano does not need power to keep it from dropping notes.
The double pallet valve on the back of the expression box triggered
both Theme primaries.

He also made a comment that on one particular instrument both springs
on the regulator pneumatics were exactly the same and appeared to be
factory original.  Eric also mentioned a wire running back on the bass
side of the pump.  We also had a wire running on the bass side of the
pump back to the plate and couldn't figure that out either.

One more interesting point on this piano in our shop was the fact that
it did not have any re-roll pneumatic, or even the hole on the tracker
bar for a re-roll tube.  It was tubed for an automatic "off" at the end
of the roll so that you could then throw the re-roll lever manually.

David Saul brought over an original diagram and it did show that there
was no re-roll hole on the trackerbar, but that it was tubed to the
Automatic "off".  Anyway,  I don't know if Eric Shoemaker's questions
were answered about the Duo-Art so this might be redundant.

Diane DeTar
San Diego, Calif.