Hi,

If anyone should be able to complain about receiving replacement parts,
I think I have the right.  Living in Israel, I have heard of one other
reproducing piano in the country from two sources that both mentioned
a Steinway Duo-Art "somewhere".  Besides that, I've never seen nor
heard of even a straight player.  Needless to say that there are no
supply houses for repair parts, yet I'm rebuilding my Ampico right
now.  How do I get the parts?  I call the Player Piano Company,
describe what I need (or tell them from their catalogue) and it's
shipped to me.

If I can get it in Israel, then certainly someone in Europe or the
US can get the right parts.

In general about substitutions: time and time again we hear stories
about someone who is restoring a piano after it had been botched.
Incorrect parts including garden hoses, automotive hoses, masking tape,
duct tape etc. have been used to substitute the time honored classics.
Time has proven that the substitute parts simply weren't made to work
in a player piano.  They may work for a while (and I can't see any
reason why copper wouldn't work, but there may be one) but most of the
time they fail.  An "improvement" such as installing an electric motor
on a Duo-Art roll mechanism can cause the motor to burn out--yes, their
engineers thought of those things and chose the materials that they
did.  Thank God we have supply houses to sell us the parts that we do
need!