Dear MMD members,  I have just discovered MMD and am enjoying the daily
Bulletins!  My name is Paul (but I go by Pat) DeWitt.  My wife Cathy
and I are AMICA members and enjoy attending the Midwest Chapter
meetings.  (Is anyone out there going to Ann Arbor this weekend?)

I am a Mechanical Engineer and have had a lifetime interest in music
and musical instruments.  After all, they are just another form of big
kids mechanical toys!  I started rebuilding player pianos in the '60s
-- using Larry Given's book, of course -- and have done so, as a hobby,
ever since.  (Does anyone want to trade stories about getting player
pianos out of basements?)

I discovered Ampico and Duo-Art reproducing pianos and my first Ampico
(a Marshall and Wendell 1924 upright) came almost exclusively with
Duo-Art rolls! At present we have "dueling reproducing grands" -- a
Duo-Art Steinway LR still in rebuilding and a Marshall and Wendell
Ampico.

Because I am not actively in the rebuilding business, I particularly
appreciate the technical articles so that I can keep up to date on
any old or new tricks required to produce professional results when
rebuilding a reproducing piano.  Almost everything that I have learned
about rebuilding, as well as sources for pianos and other instruments,
has come from fellow friends in the hobby like you who have unselfishly
shared everything I wanted to know!  I am glad to be part of THE MMD
FAMILY.

Right now I am looking for the following items:

 - A Mason and Hamlin 5'8" Ampico in rebuildable condition, or one
where the piano has been redone and the player still needs rebuilding.

 - An 88-note or 65/88-note push-up player (Pianola), preferably
unrestored.

 - Information about being able to transpose (or compose) music on the
computer into a format which can then be used to make rolls for our
20-note Aeolian Celestina organ.

Pat DeWitt

 [ Welcome to MMD, Pat.  Among the popular recurring threads are the
 [ Embarrassing Piano Stories and Piano Horror Stories.  You can tell
 [ us your own Piano Moving Horror Story !  For inspiration check the
 [ MMDigests in the Archives for the past two months.  -- Robbie