I have always been looking for Mason & Hamlin pianos that are self
playing.  I have one of the three that was shipped outside of Florence,
Italy, and beautifully carved.  There is also one in Illinois owned by
a collector and also one in California.

There were three brand names that were carved: the Mason & Hamlin,
the Chickering and the Knabe.  In my opinion, there are only about 11
of these and I have pictures of all 11.  I have two more but they do
not look to be carved by the people outside of Florence.

For sixteen years I advertised for the Mason & Hamlin player grands and
I purchased about 12 of these.  There were only two Mason & Hamlins
that were a little over 9 feet that were made.  I found one in Hawaii
in a deserted plantation.  I also found three 7-foot Mason & Hamlins
and also about seven or eight 5'8".  Actually, the Style A was 5'
7-3/4", the Style AA was 6'-1-1/2", the Style BB was 6' 11-3/4".

When I was advertising for them for sixteen years I mostly got Mason &
Hamlins without the mechanisms.  Since the Mason & Hamlin is wider than
the other Ampico pianos we had to make our own stack.  We have some of
the finest piano technicians in the country and they do a magnificent
job on the piano portion.

We sold one 7' Mason & Hamlin to a doctor who had graduated from
college in pianos, but then he found out he could not make any money
and he became a doctor.  I sold the other one to an attorney; he had
an organ in his home and had two grand pianos and he and his son played
the two pianos or a pipe organ and two grand pianos.  On both of these
pianos we replaced the soundboard and put in  a new pinblock.  The
current 7' Mason & Hamlin that I now have does not need a new
soundboard in it.  If anyone is interested we can make the stack
for the 7' Mason & Hamlin.

Jim Brady