About once a year someone will ask me about the metal that was used to
make the brackets for a player piano.  Every year I have to search for
the steel that Seeburg and others used for all the braces, etc., used
in player pianos.

McMaster Carr has it but has listed it under three different headings
in their catalog over the past couple of years.  The part number is
6511K21 through 6511K59.  For example, the steel that is 3/32-inch
thick and 3/8-inch wide is part number 6511K32.  Just type in the part
number on the McMaster Carr web site and you can see what they offer:

  http://www.mcmaster.com/

I have asked for special sizes not listed and also gotten the size
I needed.  This is unfinished steel that is easy to work with and then
plate.  You can always polish it if you don't want to plate it.

In the current McMaster catalog the steel is now called "rectangular
bars with rounded edges."  I bend this metal with a cheap brake adapter
from Harbor Freight.  The adapter is called something like "make your
vise a press brake."  They are magnetic and adhere to the jaws of my
vise.

You can make many of the metal braces used in a player piano with this
device.  I have looked for it on their web site and only found it in
the local store.  By the way, the steel actually comes from Central
Steel and Wire of Chicago but you can buy it for less money from
McMaster Carr in six foot lengths.

Don Teach