Hello MMD; Ladies and Gentlemen.  After three and a little bit years,
I have finally got my Steck Half Duo-Art re-assembled and playing.
But it isn't playing as well as it should.  So, dear readers, brace
your selves for a barrage of queries during the next week or two.

I'll start with a simple one.  When I'm playing my Stroud M-T
player, and an accented passage on the roll comes along, I move the two
"On-Off" theme levers fully to the left.  This engages the expression
box knife valve and reduces the vacuum level being supplied to the bass
and treble sections of the upper action.  When a theme perforation
passes over the theme port in the tracker bar, the knife valve is
temporarily bypassed and, if it's a treble theme perf, any notes in the
treble that occur simultaneously are played at full vacuum level and
sound out louder than any still choked-off notes in the bass.  The
theme levers are spring-loaded to return to the "Off" position, so when
they are released both treble and bass sections revert to playing at
full vacuum level.

However, the opposite seems to be the case for my Steck Half
Duo-Art.  If I set the spoolbox switch to the middle position, which
is the position for playing themed rolls (marked with an arrow between
Duo-Art "On" and "Off"), then the Themodist function appears to be on
permanently.  Moving those same spring-loaded levers to the left turns
the Themodist off.  I've been playing my Stroud for about 35 years, so
this reversal of function came as a surprise.

I can see that there is a reason for this.  After all, selecting the
arrow switch position means that you are expecting to be playing a
themed roll.  So, why not have the theme device on and ready?  Moving
the control levers to the left allows you to ignore the theming should
you so wish.  It's also the only way to obtain full vacuum on a
non-themed section of a roll.

I think I've got the story right, but I'd be very pleased to hear
from any other Half Duo-Art owners.

John Phillips
Hobart, Tasmania