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MMD > Archives > February 2007 > 2007.02.16 > 02Prev  Next


Scanning Ampico Rolls
By Paul Manganaro

Approximately a year and a half ago I purchased a fantastic group of
Ampico rolls on eBay.  A long time collector in Florida had amassed
a collection of 1200+ rolls.  I live in Pennsylvania and so Florida
is a long way to go to buy a collection.  The auction listings stated
there were no duplicates and that the majority of the rolls were
classical.

I am an avid roll collector of good old fashioned 88-note rolls and
I have a very modest group of reproducing rolls.  With two or three
thousand rolls already in my home I had no intention of making room
for all of these.  After buying the rolls I contacted Spencer Chase
in hopes of having him scan the collection.  I have installed a few
of Spencer's interface systems with great success and thought he was
the logical person to archive Ampico music.

At that time he had scanned a great deal of Duo-Art and Welte rolls
but had scanned only a handful of Ampico rolls.  I proposed paying
for the shipping costs one way with the promise I wouldn't share the
files with others.  As it turns out the rolls were in extremely fine
condition and were perfect candidates for scanning.  After the rolls
were scanned I sold them off a little at a time on eBay.

As a restorer and Ampico "A" enthusiast, I was glad to make my
contribution to the hobby.  Yes, it was a great deal of effort to move
the rolls to Pennsylvania, sort them, pack them off the Spencer, sell
them on eBay in lots and pack and ship them again, but I believe it was
a greater effort for Spencer to repair and scan each roll and ship them
back to me.  Now that an archive has been started I would encourage
other collectors to send more Ampico rolls to Spencer in order for the
music to be saved for the future.

Paul Manganaro


(Message sent Sat 17 Feb 2007, 02:44:04 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Ampico, Rolls, Scanning

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