Unknown Player System is Steger or Artemis
By Jim Jelinek
Dear John, Your player mechanism is a Steger or Artemis system,
manufactured by the Steger Piano Company in Steger, Illinois,
and Chicago. An interesting system, that is their early production
model, with screw-on pneumatics and pendulum-style valves that hang
from a piece of zephyr skin.
The valves leather is a type that should never have been used as it's
too porous and leaky. They used an unusual type of pneumatic cloth
that is often still soft and pliable after all these years. The pumps
are really awkward and fill the entire bottom of the player, and the
pumper pedals have almost no throw due to limits placed in the bottom
of the piano.
One last thing; the pedals often don't remove with the pumps and are
screwed to the bottom board of piano. These are a real fun project but
they beat the heck out of an M. Schulz or a Type Two Gulbransen.
Jim Jelinek
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(Message sent Sat 24 Jun 2006, 14:34:31 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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