[ Ref. Dave Smith in 170327 MMDigest --

- I know I haven't seen enough pianos to be really sure, but it seems
like there are quite a lot of variants out there.  Do you have a player
action that is mostly there but missing the rods completely?  Is there
anything you could take key measurements from?

- Making a new set of rods doesn't seem to be particularly difficult
metalwork.  I'm making a fair proportion of replacements for my
Gotha Steck at the moment (originals scarred up by a former owner's
heavy-handed maladjustment).  The bends and forged flats are all very
simple and can be achieved in other ways.

- It also seems like the engineering quality of the original control
metalwork isn't necessarily always as good as the (generally fantastic)
workmanship of the wood and cloth parts of the machinery -- I am
starting to spot a fair bit of room for modest improvements, to be
honest: things like tubes instead of thin rods for the long horizontal
spans, more rigid at less weight.

So it would be interesting to know a bit more about your requirement.
Is the aim maximum authenticity, in which case what do we have to go on
to work out what that is?  Or is it to get it working, in which case
maybe there are some easier options?

Lester Hawksby, UK