What kind of woods were used by Aeolian during the entire production
period for making Duo-Art action stacks?

I'm looking for a quantity of reports so that I can compare what comes
from various sources.  One writer tells me he's made stacks for Duo-Art
grands out of birch (Betula Nigra), cherry (Prunus Serotina) and poplar
(Lirodendron Tulipifera).  Another rebuilder said that most of the
Duo-Art stacks he had seen were pine.

Was American Piano Co. using pine?  Was Welte?  What have you seen?
What documentation is there about the varieties of wood that was
actually used?

The particular piano I'm working with is a 1923 Steinway 'D' concert
grand (in case it turns out that different wood was used in the stack
for, say, a Heppe upright and a Steinway of any size).  We have
presently completed cutting an action stack for it.

Mel Septon says he wouldn't sell his 'D' for $500,000.  He's not alone
in feeling this way about the value of his piano.  In fact, none of the
remaining nine are available at any price.  (The 'D' at the King Ranch
[Texas] died by termites, it is said.)

Anyhow, I've just put $1,500 into building a poplar stack, but I am
willing to trash the whole thing -- not because it couldn't be sealed
and made to work right; I know it can -- but I'd trash it if it did not
represent the best my company did at the time.

Our company does advertise "Standard Workmanship & Quality", but anyone
as myopically Aeolian as I am has noticed there is quite a difference
between what is "standard" at the top of the line vs. what is
"standard" at the bottom of the line.

After I'm dead, I don't want someone critiquing my work and finding it
to be "second class".

Bruce Grimes