I have been reading this daily newsletter for months now, and realize I have
not yet introduced myself.  My interest in player pianos is recent, after
getting my grandparents' Steck Duo-Art baby grand back to workng order.  I am
enjoying building up a modest collection of rolls, and using it while
entertaining friends and neighbors, or while unwinding at home.  I enjoy
classical, ragtime and show-tunes, and a bit of nearly everything else.  Last
year the neighbors stood around the player and warmed up our voices singing
along with some word rolls before we went out to go Christmas caroling in our
Minneapolis weather.  I am a science teacher, but haven't used my scientific
inclinations to work on the piano's mechanisms at all.  I prefer to leave that
to those who know what they are doing, at the moment.
I have a question which may be common to others who are new to player pianos:
can I gently use a vacuum cleaner to clean the tracker bar, rather than using
a tracker bar pump?

Thanks to all of you who have been making my introduction to players much more
informative.  It helps to feel connected to a community of people who share an
interest!

Bruce M. Jones