•I am looking to purchase an Ampico Baby Grand Reproducing Piano. It has been meticulously refurbished and plays beautifully both in its reproducing mode as well as via normal playing. Can anyone direct me to resources and information about the values of such an instrument? Please email me directly ...

With the help of some cooperative collectors, I have been able to locate, scan, and restore the master rolls for the two principal Ampico test rolls, namely 61391 and 70403. In the same spirit of cooperation, I will provide images of these master rolls to any interested party. My goal is to spur res...

•Wayne, I am interested in your project. I currently have under development, new Ampico test rolls. My new rolls are being developed with several purposes in mind. First, today's rebuilders are faced with different problems. For example, the under capture feature of the Ampico B amplifier is depende...

In a letter to Wayne Stanke, Bob Taylor mentioned that the Ampico B regulator spring has undoubtedly weakened over the years, and is designing a roll to test this feature. For those interested, Player Piano Co is now selling my Ampico B spring replacement. But I might also add that after having done...

Joseph Hutter's recent request for a drawer bar is a familiar tune many of us have "played" before. This is just a note to let Joe know that these bars come in several styles and are sometimes NOT interchangeable without modification. Ampico "A" drawers are wider (47 1/4" bar) than Ampico "B" drawer...

Someone wanted an Ampico drawer stabilizer bar recently, and I have one if it's still needed. It's from a Haines Bros A (I think). I also have the complete drawer, if anyone's in the market for one. Any offer considered! I found it in a dumpster behind a piano shop the other week. Seems the piano sh...

I have some questions about the Ampico pump that some of you in this group with more experience than I can probably answer. A few months ago I restored a Mason & Hamlin Ampico A (late A model - 1927). I can hear a noise from the pump that sounds like the flap valves slapping shut. I don't believe it...

Howard Wyman asked: > 1. Should there be a felt strip, and should it be on both the inside > and outside valves? Should it be over the wire that goes down the > center of the inside valve openings and how wide should it be? > > 2. Reblitz also mentions that often the valve "seats" are rotten. > Shou...

[ Editor's Note: [ [ The following is an article written by Craig Brougher which [ addresses some misconceptions about the Ampico A and B [ expression systems. Robbie did the editing, with input [ from Craig and Terry Smythe. There are 4 drawings which [ are available as a suppliment to this article...

I am writing this note at the request of Marc Sachnoff, a reader and (infrequent) contributor to the Digest. During our telephone conversation today, I mentioned to Marc that I have images of nearly 500 Ampico rolls on disk. These roll images were originally created in the early 1970s by scanning a ...

Count me in as well. GB¶ *************************************************¶ George Bogatko - gbogatko@intac.com http://www.intac.com/~gbogatko

Many thanks to Mark Fontana, Walter Tenten, Larry Kellogg, Bing Gibbs, William Chapman, Karl Petersen, Marc Sachnoff, George Bogatko, and Patrick Mullarky for their thoughtful and enthusiastic responses to my query about making Ampico roll images available. There is some effort involved in preparing...

In a recent e-mail note, Robbie asked me to explain how I concluded that the step advance of Ampico rolls corresponds to 356 steps per foot. This note is in response to that request. We have to make a clear distinction between the "intended" step advance -- the value that the designers had in mind a...

The subject regarding the lack of tempo compensation in Ampico rolls is also interesting from another angle. When I was just a little kid I visited my grandparents once a year. They had a player piano that I could not get enough of. Then when I got back home I had the rest of the year to try to reme...

Within this recent discussion about removal of tracker bar tubing, I wonder if some of our more knowledgeable rebuilders might consider sharing their techniques for removing lead tubing from an Ampico drawer and then replacing it with rubber tubing. I've done it a couple of times, and removal is pre...

•On the Ampicos I have rebuilt, I used my bench knife to ever-so-gently create a lengthwise cut into each lead section on each nipple, and use a screwdriver to slightly "enlarge" it, then slip it off. Care must be taken not to cut the lead deeper than its own wall thickness, to avoid scarring the br...

Having problems with your Ampico? If you E-mail me perhaps I can assist you. Jody, after nearly a year we managed to get the telephone lines free of noise and other problems. (Not long before that we had crank telephones and a 23-party line!) I would enjoy having the digest again. Bruce A. Clark, In...

About 1952 I discovered a Fischer model B grand in a music store in Rochester, New York. They must have been very eager to sell it because they gave me an enormous trade-in allowance for my Cable Nelson. Right off the bat, the Fischer B had problems. It was a terror at tearing rolls, and the bass ex...

Dear Automusicians, I have a Collard & Collard upright Ampico made in the UK and it plays too softly. If I depress the bass or treble black buttons, it comes up plenty loud enough for me, so I am sure there is an adjustment that can be made to set the volume louder. But where is it? Bye the way, I h...

When answering Frank Himpsl about his model A, Robbie mentioned this: >[ My Ampico B had similar anomolies before it was rebuilt. I think >[ that when the vacuum rises slowly, as when the motor is turned on, >[ the valve logic doesn't "follow the normal rules." -- Robbie What is happening with the B...