-- [ From: Patrick Mullarky * EMC.Ver #3.0 ] --

Hello to all..

My name is Patrick Mullarky, and I have been, in the past ('70s and
early '80s), a relatively active restorer of Reproducing Pianos. I
decided recently that the three pianos I have kept in the garage for a
too-long time should be restored, and I finally have some free time
again: all three kids now grown and gone...though they all live
nearby.

I found this group from a Yahoo "piano" search.

About myself....  Electronics Design Engineer (30 odd years..) in the
Seattle area.

Pianos I've restored in the past: 1923 Knabe 6'6" Grand Ampico, 1924
Fisher Upright Ampico, 1924 Stroud Duo-Art Upright, 1921 Stroud Duo-Art
Upright pumper (Duo-Art Theme expression only), and three different
88-note pumpers:  two Standard actions and one Aeolian action. I did
most of this work while we were living in the Boston area. Then we
moved to Seattle...

I have a 1934 Marshall & Wendall 4'10" A/B Baby Grand, A 1912 Steinway
Upright Themodist pumper, and a 1922 Aeolian Duo-Art Upright all
sitting ready for restoration.

The Aeolian Duo-Art has a very strange pump: a four-lobed exposed
bellows pump with the crankshaft running along the top. I would guess
that it is a smaller version of the "Steamboat" six-lobed pump. I would
really like to replace the pump with a quieter box pump and motor...any
leads??? (Would that be too much of an "alteration"?) I've rebuilt the
pump bellows, but it huffs and puffs a bit as it runs...and you can
hear the valves slap under load. I have a hunch this piano was in the
"entry-level" price-range, hence the noisier, cheaper pump. I believe
that box pumps were the norm in 1922- era reproducers.

The Marshall & Wendall Baby Grand has a B drawer, stack and pump, but
everything else is A, with a single crescendo. No Sub0 plumbing at all.
But it actually plays and even tries to reproduce weakly...all
original. I think that this model was made really "on the cheap", but
it sounds, as a small grand piano, surprisingly good. Its pins are
loose, though, and it may need repinning (and therefore restringing?
Ugh!).

The Steinway Upright is also completely original (It's huge! And
heavy!).  The only missing piece is the pointer on the Tempo bar (I
believe you were supposed to "follow the blue line" on the roll with
the pointer, hence "Metrostyle"). Anyone have a extra Themodist
Metrostyle pointer lying around ? Or know where I can get a replica?

I also have a 1919 Fisher 6' Grand Ampico (early A) over at a friend's
house
...she teaches piano on it...it's missing its pump and motor...but is
otherwise intact (stack, expressions, etc.). The piano itself was
totally rebuilt from the ground up by someone about fifteen years ago,
including strings, hammers, sound board refinishing, etc. The same
person rebuilt the stack, but gave up working on the pneumatic
components at that point, tied off all the reproducer parts, and
retubed the tracker bar to play 88-note rolls only. If I can find a
pump and motor I'll restore it, as all the rest of the parts are still
there...though disconnected. Once again I would appreciate any leads!

The missing motor and the missing box pump mentioned above were lost by
the moving company on our Boston to Seattle move in 1980. I took them
out to ease the job of the piano movers. Mistake! I goofed by ignoring
my own rule:  always keep everything together!

Anyway, I decided a short time ago that I would go back to working on
the pianos. It was always fun, and the results extremely satisfying.
So, I looked up "player pianos" on the Web. Disappointing! No much
there. But, I finally found the PTG Web Page which contained info about
this group.

So, again, hello to all...

This looks to be an interesting group!

-Pat-

Oh, yes... the vitals...¶

Patrick Mullarky¶
206 Northside Road¶
Bellevue, WA 98004-6718

206 453-9698 (h)¶
206 883-1811 (w)

Email: pat@nwce.com¶
Compuserve: 70137,2675 (rarely).