Hello all, from a long-time occasional lurker and first time owner 
and poster! I recently purchased a 1923 Stroud Duo-Art 5'5" baby grand 
piano, because (A) it was a cheap local piano, (B) I've always wanted 
a baby grand, and (C) I've always been fascinated by these old player 
pianos, particularly the reproducing pianos. 

The price was right, the size is perfect for my apartment, and the 
piano itself plays great (albeit very out of tune). The seller's dad 
bought it in the 1950s. While they were evidently lax about keeping it 
tuned, it stayed in one spot for decades, away from direct sunlight or 
extreme heat or dampness. 

The bench was full of articles about Seattle-area player techs, going 
back to the 1960s, and the piano came with a box of about 20 rolls 
(mostly 88-note rolls). The Duo-Art player worked well enough when 
I bought it (good expression, but a couple stuck notes), and I was 
pretty smitten. After an impressive effort on the mover's part, it's 
sitting right here in my living room.

Unfortunately, it seems like the player mechanism didn't survive the 
move. It powers on, the bellows move silently (no knocks), and the roll 
moves across the tracker bar, but the piano plays feebly, unless I slow 
down the motor to around Tempo 30 to 50. Moving the levers over to Loud 
or Dance seems to help, but not by much. About 10 keys get sucked down 
when the player is turned on, but even those take a few seconds to 
fully press down. Expression seems to be working. 

I've spent the day familiarizing myself with the underbelly of this 
beast, and tried following the hoses from the pump to the stack, 
feeling for any major leaks or looking for missing or broken tubing. 
Most of the tubing is gray and hard, and some of the ones leading to 
the stack have broken off. I would not be surprised if they were the 
original tubing. Some are obviously much newer, as they are very 
supple and black in color. 

There is a big tube near the sustain pneumatic that appears to be 
connected to nothing at both ends (it wraps around the back of the 
motor, as far as I can tell), and does not seem like it should connect 
to anything, but I swear I can feel some air being sucked in by it. 

I cannot find any proper tubing diagrams on-line, let alone clear 
pictures of the underside of a Duo-Art grand. I did download the 
original service manual from 1925, which helpfully labels the functions 
of every part under there, but it makes no mention of a second hose 
near the sustain pneumatic. Given that there's a second V-belt tucked 
up there as well, it wouldn't surprise me if it's just a spare part.

I think it's pretty obvious that most, if not all, of the old tubing
(and gasketing) is suspect at best by now, so that's definitely going 
to be something I want to tackle (alongside the usual bellows, gaskets, 
etc.). Being a pretty mechanically-inclined person, I feel reasonably 
up to it, but I know well enough that this is not something I want to 
dive into before I know _exactly_ what I'm doing. 

I used to own a copy of Art Reblitz's player piano rebuilding book, just 
out of curiosity, but I threw it out long ago out of stupidity. I can't 
seem to find any real guide specifically on restoring reproducing grand 
pianos (a few nice slideshows on YouTube, but nothing detailed), so 
I feel a bit at a loss as to where I should even start or how I should 
disassemble it. It's probably insane, stupid, and dumb, but then again,
so am I.

John Kurtzke
jackkurtzke97@icloud.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply)

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 [ "Player Piano Servicing and Rebuilding: A Treatise on How Player
 [ Pianos Function and How to Get Them Back into Top Playing Condition
 [ if They Don't Work", by Arthur A. Reblitz, (C) 1985 by Vestal Press;
 [ ISBN: 0-911572-41-4; ISBN: 0-911572-40-6 (paperback);
 [ ISBN 10: 0911572414; ISBN 13: 9780911572414  -- Robbie