My wife and I operate a "co-op" for reproducing rolls and have the following titles available after filling orders for my customers. These were recut by Play-Rite from originals borrowed from a well known collector and rebuilder in California. We periodically publish lists of titles and ask our cust...

I have a 1935 George Steck Ampico A/B reproducing grand piano. It has a B stack, B drawer, a single A crescendo feeding both A expression units. It has no action/pump equalizers. The expression units are abbreviated, modified A units with no re-regulators. The piano has been playing flawlessly for a...

Hello there from me here in the UK.¶ You may not be aware, but We are having a drought in England, but its not for bargains. I went to an auction of antiques and bought an Ampico. It is an upright 'Collard & Collard' piano which is a London maker. Well these are quite rare over here, The most common...

My Dad is considering working on the old player during the cold winter months. Years ago I recovered the pneumatic stack, and bellows and most everything else. Last summer we checked the bellows after closing off all the out going tubes and hoses, and found it to hold vaccuum for over ten seconds. I...

[ Editor's Note: Below is a message from Robbie Rhodes which [ contains, as an attachment, a message he received from our new [ subscriber A.B. Bonds. Within that attachment are comments [ which are delineated with {} marks. Thoese comments are [ Robbie's, not mine. [ [ There's a possibility here t...

Has any one seen an Ampico foot pumped upright with the Melville Clark spring wound spool box with levers running from the spring barrel down to the pedals to wind it? I think it was in a Mason and Hamlin. I responded to an ad years ago and found it but it had been rained on and was junk. Randy Hayn...

Jim, I had the same problem as you, viewing the notes "all squished together". So, I used the "expand time" operator in my editor (MasterTracks) to expand the time base by 10x. I also set the Tempo for around MM=175, and it played pretty good (sounded like a xylophone, too). Do you have the actual A...

I have a 1928 Fischer grand Ampico model "A" that I'm interested in selling, as well as an extra complete Ampico "A" player action. The piano is in decent playable condition, and everything in the player has been restored *except* for the stack itself. The spare player action is untouched. Both loca...

Hi there, Dean. I thought you would like to know the progress and status of the effort to create an exact replica roll of Ampico Roll No. 2921, "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song," for you. I was able to locate and borrow a copy of the roll, which arrived on Wednesday. I reconstructed the master roll an...

I was interested in the characterization expressed by Terry Smythe regarding the differences between Duo-Arts and Ampicos. While I am not going to get into that one (of which I do not fully agree), I will suggest this: All who feel that their Ampicos are mainly of "salon" value, musically, as Terry ...

I'd just like some feed back on the best methods for getting the transmission and wind motor of an upright Ampico to run quitely. Mine is to noisy for me, you can hear the chain running over the sprockets easily during soft playing levels. The bushings on the crank need re-doing, "but how"??? It loo...

I'm new to this stuff, but have become interested in the technology behind the reproducing pianos, particularly the ones capable of dynamic expression. Am I to understand that no one knows how these rolls were produced? or is it just me that's ignorant? Is there a book that would provide a general i...

This note is a request for help in Ampico research. I am presently involved in locating and making exact scans of Ampico Test Rolls. My goal is to provide the reconstructed master rolls, and the tools required to evaluate them, available to anyone and everyone who is interested in doing further rese...

Hello, all.. I have a 1934 Marshall & Wendall 4'10" "Baby B" Ampico. It has a B Drawer, Type 2 B stack, and a B pump... everything else is A. My question for the group: The piano has only one Crescendo, tubed to the Treble side. This Crescendo is tee'd to both Expressions. It was built this way, as ...

Pat Mullarky asks: > My question for the group: > The piano (Ampico A/B) has only one Crescendo, tubed to the Treble > side. This Crescendo is tee'd to both Expressions. It was built this way, > as I found no screw holes where a second Crescendo would have/could > have been mounted, and there were n...

Hello Everyone, I am looking for input form anyone on refitting AMPICO grand actions. I have the opportunity to install an "A" action into a former Mason & Hamlin AMPICO. The problem is that the stack was scaled for a Chickering. Style and size not known. Any information would be appreciated. Bill B...

Hello from the unusually warm Pacific Northwest: You will recall the recent discussion over using one or two crescendos in an Ampico A/B system. A follow-up question: with only one crescendo, how does one balance bass and treble expression pressures? (vacuums?): I rebuilt the "sort-of-A" expressions...

Patrick Mullarky asked about regulating the Ampico A/B, having only one crescendo and two sets of expressions. It is actually impossible to give Pat a knowledgeable answer as to the problem of uneven pressures between bass and treble. But one thing you can say for sure-- That cannot happen unless th...

Hi all, Re: Ampico valve blocks I might get criticized for this, but when gluing any wood together... it is always preferable to use clamps if at all possible. When I do Ampico valve blocks I use 4 small spring clamps on each valve block (cheap clamps from K-mart are fine). It might take longer, but...

Robbie Rhodes is absolutely correct when he suggests using Ampico B springs for Ampico A valves. Having hundreds of Ampico pianos all over the USA by now, I occassionally get calls from some earlier ones which were done before decent springs were available. "My piano sometimes won't even start to pl...