> From: Patrick Mullarky <pat@nwce.com>

> 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.
> The piano has only one Crescendo
> Would it be against the credo of restoration to add the second, Bass
> Crescendo?

I have a 1935 George Steck Ampico A/B.  It too came with a single
crescendo.  It was also lacking compensators and a few other
components.  It performs exceedingly well.

There is general agreement that most of the reproducing pianos built
in the 30's were assembled out of spare parts left over from the
termination of production in early 30's.  I have seen a 1935 Weber
containing a Duo-Art system, but equipped with an Ampico B drawer.
And now your variation.  Faced with a diminishing market and an even
more diminishing supply of parts, it seems highly probable that
experiments were likely conducted to find out how little they could
get away with in those years.

I have added a secondo crescendo to my piano, I have no quarrels with
my conscience, and the performance has been significantly improved.
I say go for it.

Views of others?

Regards,

Terry¶
(Coming to you from beautiful downtown St. Louis, with AMICA
Convention underway tomorrow morning.   :-)

•Terry Smythe                    (204) 832-3982 (voice/fax)
55 Rowand Avenue                smythe@mts.net
Winnipeg, MB, Canada   R3J 2n6  smythe@freenet.mb.ca
Home page: http://www.mts.net/~smythe