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I recently acquired a Weber Duo-Art Upright piano, circa 1919-1920,
and the electric motor does not always start -- it sometimes just
sits there and hums.  Rotating the pulley slightly allows the motor
to start.

The centrifugal switch inside the motor for the start winding has
worn a grove in the bronze hub mounted to the end-plate.  Apparently,
the arcing of this centrifugal start switch has created some high
resistance spots in the grove on the bronze hub.  Does anyone have
a suggestion on how to repair the bronze hub, or if a replacement
bronze hub is available?  Any help that can be offered will be
appreciated.

Also, the mechanism that holds the fallboard closed does not work
very well (now that the screws have torn out of the wood it does not
work at all).  The fallboard has a metal plate attached to the bottom
of it with a hinge.  This metal plate slides under a metal band that
is mounted under the keybed.  The metal plate has a small bump punched
in it, the metal band has a hole in it.

When the fallboard is closed, the bump in the metal plate sits in the
hole in the metal band, which is supposed to provide enough friction
to keep the fallboard closed.  Is this original, or is this a "repair"?

I suspect what is on the piano now is not original, and I am hoping
someone can provide a description or send me pictures of what it
should look like.  Any help that can be offered will be appreciated.

Thanks
Glenn Roat
glennroat@yahoo.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]