Hello, everybody.  I have, I fervently hope, finished rebuilding the
steamboat pump out of my upright Steck Duo-Art.  The quarter-horsepower
electric motor that drives the pump has been given the 'OK' by a local
electrical firm, so I am ready to reinstall these items back into the
player, for a test run.

However, I decided to remove the two cradles that sit on the floor
of the piano, to de-rust the wood screws and to give the notches in the
cradles' tops some new bushing cloth.  These notches are where the
bottoms of the pump's two camshaft bearings fit.

The cradle at the bass end has an added feature; a piece of copper wire
that is attached to the iron frame of the piano and runs straight out
to the notch, passes through the notch and is secured by a wood screw to
the side of the cradle.  Is this an attempt to earth the iron frame to
the ironwork of the pump?  One would need to be confident of a good
contact between the wire and the bottom of the camshaft bearing.

In the case of my Steck this wouldn't have achieved much because the
240 volts 50 Hz supply comes into the piano via an ancient looking
length of figure-eight, two-core, plastic-coated flex.  There is no
earth lead.  I plan to rectify that in the very near future with
completely new three-core flex.

John Phillips - in Hobart, Tasmania