•Was there a "Owners Manual" supplied with the Ampico B? Bob Stewart [ Reprints are available of "The Ampico Service Manual 1929", [ which describes the Ampico B. Some of the pages are reproduced [ at http://mmd.foxtail.com/Tech/Ampico/index.html The article in [ 021225 MMDigest, "Player Piano Servi...

•A 1927 Knabe art case grand piano with Ampico will be sold at auction on Sunday, February 23rd, 2003, in Asheville, North Carolina. For description and picture, visit www.brunkauctions.com, click on "Complete Listing With Color Photos February 22-23 2003 Auction" Click on lot 0840. Viewing is this ...

•I think there may be a little confusion over my post. I am wondering if there was a small owner's manual supplied with the Ampico B's that covered "How to operate it". It would have covered loading the roll, setting the controls and all those things a first time owner would need to know. I am aware...

•I have a customer with a Marshall & Wendell upright piano with an Ampico player, serial no. 103847 (this would put it about 1924). The player is just like the one in the Ampico Inspectors Reference Book copyright 1923. The piano had been rebuilt by someone else several years ago. His initial compla...

•The problem with John Dewey's friend's piano is that like my own Knabe Ampico I just sold -- the problem is cumulative. Over time everything becomes just a tad weak adding up to an overall system operating with less than ideal vacuum. For my yardstick of standards, where I expect a piano to perform...

•John Dewey asked about the Ampico A with no expression. I suspect that your previous restorer used PPCo purple cloth (or any PPCo cloth) and everything using that will need to be recovered. He probably did not recover valves, so you will have to do that too. If you put a small spring clamp or rubbe...

•Over the years I have been called out to look at previously restored Ampico units in which the expression has quit working and/or the piano plays weakly. These are restorations that were done up to 15 or more years ago. The one thing I seem to find every time is that the seal on Bakelite valve seat...

•Ampico troubles: I usually start to look for problems in the tubing. Lots of hobbyists and professionals alike can get confused if only one tube is misplaced; this will throw everything else out of order. The other place to look is the "amplifier" mounted directly on the pump. Sometimes the leather...

•Eric Shoemaker writes in 030216 MMDigest: > Turning the adjustment screws on the spring mounted on these units > will only change the _time_ between up (loud) and down (soft), and > not the level of loudness. This adjustment was placed there to > determine the rate of slow/fast crescendo/decrescend...

•Hi Folks, I'm assuming here that everybody is sure that the automatic cutout pallet valve is sealing properly and the poor machine isn't stuck in "88 Mode?" Or am I missing something? Cheers! Jim Heyworth Sechelt, BC, Canada

•Dear group: I have erred in my suppositions about regulation of Ampico A crescendo units. I have since then been "put in my place" and had the knuckle rapping of those I've learned so much from over the years. Mea culpa. I shall soon have a Chickering and a Franklin (circa '25 Ampico A) up for serv...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I have a 1925 Marshall & Wendell Upright Ampico A. I have tubed 8T to the electric power-off unit, so the roll will stop instead of reroll. The problem is that when it is put into reroll manually, and the motor turned back on, lifting or wanderin...

•Hello Ian, You might try powering the switch shut-off pneumatic from regulated suction. I know you're not supposed to but, if everything is tight, it shouldn't really matter. The vacuum will then be cut off from the pneumatic during rewind by the action cutout. Haven't tried it, but in theory... ? ...

•Hi all. Ian has a problem with the tubing on the Ampico A shut-off system. I am not the expert but I have had some dealings with a piano that another person had done some modifications. The problem had to do with the stack cut-out valve in the pump was making a horrendous noise when the roll was re...

•Ian, I think since you have two pouches available to control the shut-off switch, you should use them both. Why not tube the reroll hole in the tracker bar, 8T, through the treble fast crescendo cut-out, 5T, and on to the switch. Then tube the second pouch to the spoon valve. This set up will allow...

•Ampico Upright Owners could you do me a favor? Please lift the top on your piano and make note of any numbers or letters that are stamped on the top of the spoolbox. If you know the year of your piano please include that also. Thanks Bob Stewart

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I'm trying to determine the value of a roll cabinet-desk with decal "The Ampico" inside top door. This piece measures 78" high x 28" wide, has two hand-painted top doors (floral oil painting), a drop-front desk, also floral painted, and two doors...

•I have just begun the stack for a mid-'Twenties art case Ampico with upside down wooden top valves. It has two odd valve blocks among the normal ones. They are positioned where there is no pneumatic for them to control and the top case has been carved away so that when the valve activates, it opens...

•Sorry Robbie, this is not an Ampico B so the units you refer to do not apply. This is an Ampico A and they are complete valves except for the bit of wood missing that would complete the gasket under the wooden top seat. It is just like drilling a hole in the top of the valve block. D.L. Bullock St...

•In response to Lynn Bullock's question about the odd spill units, I am sure that they have nothing to do with the description in the 1929 Ampico manual. I assume that they are placed there to bleed the stack so that on rewind the notes nearest to the rewind slot will not sound. The units would most...