I finally located a Foster & Co. piano, with a really bad cabinet.
The tone was gone so I decided to re-string it.  Upon removing the plate
I found out the plate was in two pieces: #1 the plate, #2 the part of the
plate containing the name.  The whole thing was made to look like one
piece.  This sparked my curiosity.  I already had a Marshall & Wendell
piano with a bad pinblock, but a beautiful case.  Knowing both were made
by American Piano Company, I decided to take a closer look.

The Marshall & Wendell is supposed to be higher in price and quality than
the Foster.  While this is pretty well accepted, if judged by these two
examples, it is a bunch of hogwash!  The only difference between these
two pianos is the nameplate.  This is cleverly made to look like it is
molded into the plate.

I would gather that, at least in the case of uprights made by the
American Piano Co., the pianos were constructed first, then the name
added later.  So any piano they made could bear the numerous names that
the company used.  These two pianos are alike in every way.  As a matter
of fact I used the cabinet on the Marshall & Wendell and the strung back
of the Foster.  The piano actions & stringing scale were exactly alike.

From a marketing point of view, that was a great idea:  cases and actions
could be interchanged for all upright players they built, no matter the
price or "supposed" quality the public bought.  They probably ended up
with the same piano no matter which name it bore.  In reality you paid
more for the name.  The piano itself is well designed if you are willing
to re-figure the scale.

A GR kit is on its way from Ragtime Automatic Music to be installed in
this piano.  I will let all of you know how this product works after it
is installed.  I wonder if the Marshall & Wendell was built in East
Rochester instead of Albany, New York?

Best wishes
Andy T. Taylor