Hello MMD.  In 1983 I spent six months on sabbatical leave in
Denver, Colorado.  During that time I paid a visit to Dick Kroekel,
a professional pianist and mechanical music enthusiast (with whom
I have completely lost touch and regret that.)  I mentioned to him that
I had recently bought a Steck Half-Duo-Art upright.  Yes, it's the same
one I've recently been bending the collective ears of MMD about.

Dick dug around in one of his cupboards and presented me with the
expression unit and a few other bits from a recently gutted similar
player.  I carried them home and they have sat in one of my cupboards
for 25 years.  But I got them out when I started, finally, to work on
my Steck.

I also hunted around in the MMD Archives and printed out some relevant
past contributions.  One of these was from John Tuttle, in March 2006,
in which he stated that all Duo-Art accordion boards measure 3" by 3".
This is certainly so for the boards from my English Steck, but when
I measured the boards in Dick Kroekel's expression unit, which surely
came from an American piano, I found that they were 3-1/2 by 3-1/2
inches.  As far as I can tell, all other dimensions of the two expression
units are the same.

I have mentioned this to John, and he has asked me to let all MMDers
know that not all Duo-Art accordion boards are the same size.

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania