This is in reply to John Phillips, who recently inquired about the
Duo-Art cross valve seat replacements.  With respect to the Duo-Art
cross valve seat replacements, permit me to share some history of them
with you.  The Duo-Art cross valve replacements were actually made by
my deceased friend (may he rest in peace), Bob Streicher.

Back in the mid-1970s I was having difficulty with the cross-valves
in my Steinway XR Duo-Art and Bob and I talked about how much better we
both believed the later Duo-Art stacks with the round valves performed.
I helped to convince Bob to come up with a design for a round valve
replacement seat for the cross-valves and he did a great job in doing
so.

At that time, I had also discussed these round valve replacements with
Durrell Armstrong of the Player Piano Company and he told me that he
would be willing to sell them.  Thereafter, Bob manufactured them and
I purchased a number of sets from him.  I restored the stack for my
Steinway Duo-Art XR Grand with those seats in the 1970s, and they are
still working fine.

In later years Bob refined the cross valve replacements so that the
diameter of the bottom seats was a little bit less than that of the
top seats to help with repetition.  I know Bob discussed this with
some of the best known Duo-Art restorers in the business and, and after
he refined the bottom seats, I believe he sold a number of them.

Unfortunately Bob passed away last summer and I am not aware of
whether the dies he used to make these replacement valve seats have
been preserved.  I will be needing more sets of the round valve
replacements for the cross valves myself, and have been wondering
whether one of our talented restorers on the MMD website who are also
machinists, might be willing to use some of the valve seats that Bob
manufactured, as a template to manufacture new ones.

I am aware that the topic of the round valve seat replacements for the
cross valves has been a matter of controversy for many years, and my
purpose in posting this message is _not_ to get into an argument with
anybody concerning whether the cross valve seats should, or should not
be replaced.  I have heard all of the arguments for and against these
replacements for years, and in my view, people should simply use the
materials they feel most comfortable with.  On the other hand, my
purpose for posting this message _is_ to inquire as to whether any of
our talented restorers and machinists might be interested in
re-manufacturing these replacements.

And, while I am on the subject of the excellent work of our
deceased friend Bob Streicher, he also manufactured excellent bearing
replacements for the Duo-Art rotary pumps, and I am sure many people on
this MMD website are aware of that.  So, as I ask whether any of our
talented restorers and machinists within our hobby might be interested
in re-manufacturing Bob Streicher's Duo-Art cross valve replacements,
I am also asking whether any of our friends might be interested in
continuing the manufacture of Bob Streicher's Duo-Art pump bearings.

As many of us know, Bob Streicher was an incredibly talented
machinist, and mechanical musical instrument restorer.  He was also
a good personal friend to many of us including me.  I first met Bob
about 44 years ago, and counted him as a good friend until he passed
away last July.  Ironically, the last time I had a phone conversation
with Bob was a little less than a year ago, when we spoke about the
then recent passing of our mutual friend Randolph Herr ("Randy" to his
friends).

As many of you may know, Randy was a well known collector of mechanical
musical instruments and was also a very talented pianolist.  Bob,
Randy, and I were friends, and I must tell you that the passing of both
Randy and Bob within just a few months of each other this past year,
has been a great personal loss for me, as well as for those of us
interested in mechanical musical instruments.

It would be very sad indeed if all of the good work that Bob did for
mechanical musical instruments was lost with him.  If anybody out there
has any ideas as to how we can get Bob's cross valve replacements, as
well as his Duo-Art pump bearing replacements manufactured again, it
would be very helpful to many of us.

Thanks for listening.

Barry M. Dennis