Hello MMD.  I called in to our local second-hand piano and player shop
today, to wheedle a few bridle straps for my New York Steck upright
Pianola out of my mate, Jim.

Jim rebuilds their players when they come in.  He showed me a recent
arrival: a small, upright Steck player, which has "Gotha" in brass
letters let into, I think, the fall board.  I told Jim that these
are prized in the U.K., on account of their German manufacture.  The
proprietor of the shop heard us talking and joined in, claiming that
no Stecks were made in Germany; they are either British or American.
So, who is correct?

The player is obviously a fairly early one; it has a manual adjustment
for tracking on the right hand side of the spool box.  I must confess
that I didn't look underneath the roll that was covering the tracker bar,
so I don't know if it is a 65-note or an 88-note player, nor whether or
not it has Themodist ports.  I must have been thinking about the soon
to expire parking meter in the road outside.

John Phillips
Hobart, Tasmania

 [ Ach!  Semantics!  The piano was presumably built by Aeolian's
 [ Gotha factory rather than the London or New York factory.  After
 [ the player system was installed, the _completed product_ was
 [ bestowed the "Steck" brand name.  So technically the proprietor is
 [ correct -- only pianos were built in Gotha, Germany, and "Stecks"
 [ were born elsewhere!  -- Robbie