1. Re: 2nd crescendo for late Ampico:  the Ampico B has only one
   crescendo device operating from the Treble Crescendo channels.  I
   consider the performance of my B piano inferior to the Ampico A when
   playing most A rolls.  I recommend installation of a second
   crescendo in the late-production A pianos that were originally
   equipped with only one crescendo device.

2. The nice covers for the underside of a grand piano have a felt
   lining on the inside surface which helps muffle air noise.  Yes, the
   cover often lies forgotten in the garage, because --

3. to play 88-note rolls on Ampico B, I pull off the tubes at the
   expression valve block, leading to intensity #6 on both bass and
   treble.  Recommendation: buy another piano for your 88-note rolls:
   a vertical pumper; it's much more fun.  The Ampico B is *boring* by
   comparison!

Since I've expressed a couple of small opinions above, I might as well
make a big (opinionated) statement here:

Premise: The Ampico B music reproducing *system* is inferior to the
Ampico A system, because there are so few music rolls for the B.

Evidence: The Ampico company reissued some classical music performances
with new coding for the B system; they sound much better.  Therefore
Ampico knew that the B was inferior.  Dr.  Hickman, as a concerned
engineer, was unable to convince Ampico management that the new "B
model" should perform as well as the Ampico-A with the existing
library, and so he was compelled to compromise the performance in favor
of cost-reduction.

I love the pneumatic inventions and innovations within the B mechanism,
but I prefer to hear most of the Ampico library performed on an A
piano.  The music sounds better!

I hope that, someday, Wayne Stahnke will be able to automatically
convert A-coding into B-coding; that was the alternative which Dr.
Hickman hoped for.

-- Robbie Rhodes