Tom Sendall spoke of operating an electric motor with a truck battery
and an 800 watt inverter.  Although there is plenty of power available
with this setup, most cheaper inverters put out what is called a
"modified sine wave", a waveform that induction motors do _not_ like
at all.

In order for the motor to run properly it must be powered by a higher
quality "full sine wave" type inverter, the type that is used in RV's,
such as the "Tripp Lite" brand.

However, it would be far better to power the street piano directly
from a 12-volt motor.  Barring that, use a very small "suitcase" size
gasoline powered generator.  These tend to be very quiet.

Andy Taylor

 [ Tom tells me the little motor is only 1/15 horsepower, so it's
 [ probably a squirrel-cage induction motor such as for a small fan.
 [ Look in the converter/inverter specs for a statement that the
 [ output waveform is suitable for small AC motors.  If you can't
 [ find such a statement then it's probably not suitable.  -- Robbie