I suspect that readers are starting to get sick of hearing for me.  But
I am happy to report that my worries about the curiously-behaving
pneumatic #70 have gone away thanks to the helpful advice of two
readers.

However, after having replaced the upper Half Duo-Art player action
back into my Steck upright, and playing a few Duo-Art and Themodist
rolls with reasonable results, I decided to try a standard 88-note
roll.  So I moved the control lever in the spool box from "D-A ON"
through the Themodist position to "D-A OFF" and started pedaling.  The
music sounded seriously strangled.

I couldn't see through the vast array of tracker bar tubes to check
whether I had mis-tubed something; so I pulled the action out of the
piano for a better look.

About twelve months ago, John Tuttle sent me a photo of the tubing
around the D-A ON/OFF and the PEDAL ON/OFF slide switches on the
outside of a Half Duo-Art spoolbox, and my tubing looks to be just the
same.  I don't think I've done anything dumb, but I'll be grateful,
if not happy, to be told otherwise.

My Steck has a pair of spring-loaded levers on the keyslip which one
is supposed to hold over to the left when playing a "normal" passage
in a Themodist roll.  I'm beginning to think that one is required to
hold them over for the entire length of a standard 88-note roll.  I
would have thought that the Aeolian Co. could have devised something
better than that.

I've just looked at the pamphlet "Instructions for Playing the Pedal
Duo-Art," issued by the Aeolian Co., New York.  Mine is a British
Steck, and the Themodist levers in the keyslip work the opposite way to
those described in the pamphlet.  When pushed leftwards against their
springs, the levers open pallet valves that turn the Themodist off.
There is no gradual turning-off of the accenting, as described in the
pamphlet.  However my Stroud M-T player does work just as the pamphlet
states.

Any advice will be welcome.

John Phillips
Hobart, Tasmania