I would like to comment on Bill Koenigsberg's posting 13.13.27.

I had been corresponding with Larry Givens for years before visiting
him in Wexford, Pennsylvania, in June of 1997.   His Parkinson's
disease had progressed at that point, but he was still self-sufficient
and living on the family estate.

Larry had invited Robin Pratt and myself to visit him for the specific
purpose of passing on some Ampico knowledge.  Robin was serving as the
AMICA Bulletin editor at the time, and Larry often served as technical
consultant.

We toured the estate's smaller house where Larry was living as well as
the fully enclosed barn building.

That day was crammed with many Ampico details and I may not be able
to recall all of them with 100% accuracy.  It was my understanding that
the original Ampico perforators had occupied the barn building and it
was there that he produced his rolls.  Eventually, the perforators and
masters were sold to Harold Powell in California.

The day was filled with stories of Adam Carroll, Mrs. Charles F.
Stoddard, and Clarence Hickman, all of whom had become friends with
Larry.  We listened to many Adam Carroll rolls on Larry's Knabe Ampico
B.  In addition to the aural history, Larry gave me a collection of
photographs.

Some of the photos were of the Stoddard apartment in New York City.
Details of each room and the contents were listed along with a sketch
showing the apartment floor plan.   He wanted me to know exactly where
everything was placed.  His reasoning was that since I owned the custom
made Stoddard roll cabinets, I should be able to tell the story of
their location in the Stoddard home.

The photos show these Chinese style cabinets in the Stoddard apartment,
which had almost exclusive Chinese furnishings.  Larry had first access
to these cabinets, but as he downsized his holdings, he sold them to
Richard J. Howe, who later sold them to me.

From the original negatives used to produce the pictures in the "1929
Service Manual" for the Ampico B, Larry had made several sets of jumbo
prints.  Jumbo in this case means roughly 12x18 inches.  He gave me one
of those sets.  The rest were given to other collectors in the hope
that they would survive.

Larry didn't talk much about the recuts that he issued.  He indicated
the paper source was a problem.  The rolls do have other issues.
Uneven chain perforations show lack of synchronization with the master,
inconsistent step advance, or perhaps it was a one to one copy process.
Old time collectors didn't complain because it was the only source of
Ampico recuts at the time.

I own several of these recuts, and like Bill says, they crinkle as they
play, but it is a very important part of the Ampico story.

Bob Taylor
Missouri