Introduction
By Pat Mullarky
-- [ From: Patrick Mullarky * EMC.Ver #3.0 ] --
Hello to all..
My name is Patrick Mullarky, and I have been, in the past ('70s and early '80s), a relatively active restorer of Reproducing Pianos. I decided recently that the three pianos I have kept in the garage for a too-long time should be restored, and I finally have some free time again: all three kids now grown and gone...though they all live nearby.
I found this group from a Yahoo "piano" search.
About myself.... Electronics Design Engineer (30 odd years..) in the Seattle area.
Pianos I've restored in the past: 1923 Knabe 6'6" Grand Ampico, 1924 Fisher Upright Ampico, 1924 Stroud Duo-Art Upright, 1921 Stroud Duo-Art Upright pumper (Duo-Art Theme expression only), and three different 88-note pumpers: two Standard actions and one Aeolian action. I did most of this work while we were living in the Boston area. Then we moved to Seattle...
I have a 1934 Marshall & Wendall 4'10" A/B Baby Grand, A 1912 Steinway Upright Themodist pumper, and a 1922 Aeolian Duo-Art Upright all sitting ready for restoration.
The Aeolian Duo-Art has a very strange pump: a four-lobed exposed bellows pump with the crankshaft running along the top. I would guess that it is a smaller version of the "Steamboat" six-lobed pump. I would really like to replace the pump with a quieter box pump and motor...any leads??? (Would that be too much of an "alteration"?) I've rebuilt the pump bellows, but it huffs and puffs a bit as it runs...and you can hear the valves slap under load. I have a hunch this piano was in the "entry-level" price-range, hence the noisier, cheaper pump. I believe that box pumps were the norm in 1922- era reproducers.
The Marshall & Wendall Baby Grand has a B drawer, stack and pump, but everything else is A, with a single crescendo. No Sub0 plumbing at all. But it actually plays and even tries to reproduce weakly...all original. I think that this model was made really "on the cheap", but it sounds, as a small grand piano, surprisingly good. Its pins are loose, though, and it may need repinning (and therefore restringing? Ugh!).
The Steinway Upright is also completely original (It's huge! And heavy!). The only missing piece is the pointer on the Tempo bar (I believe you were supposed to "follow the blue line" on the roll with the pointer, hence "Metrostyle"). Anyone have a extra Themodist Metrostyle pointer lying around ? Or know where I can get a replica?
I also have a 1919 Fisher 6' Grand Ampico (early A) over at a friend's house ...she teaches piano on it...it's missing its pump and motor...but is otherwise intact (stack, expressions, etc.). The piano itself was totally rebuilt from the ground up by someone about fifteen years ago, including strings, hammers, sound board refinishing, etc. The same person rebuilt the stack, but gave up working on the pneumatic components at that point, tied off all the reproducer parts, and retubed the tracker bar to play 88-note rolls only. If I can find a pump and motor I'll restore it, as all the rest of the parts are still there...though disconnected. Once again I would appreciate any leads!
The missing motor and the missing box pump mentioned above were lost by the moving company on our Boston to Seattle move in 1980. I took them out to ease the job of the piano movers. Mistake! I goofed by ignoring my own rule: always keep everything together!
Anyway, I decided a short time ago that I would go back to working on the pianos. It was always fun, and the results extremely satisfying. So, I looked up "player pianos" on the Web. Disappointing! No much there. But, I finally found the PTG Web Page which contained info about this group.
So, again, hello to all...
This looks to be an interesting group!
-Pat-
Oh, yes... the vitals...
Patrick Mullarky
206 Northside Road
Bellevue, WA 98004-6718
206 453-9698 (h)
206 883-1811 (w)
Email: pat@nwce.com
Compuserve: 70137,2675 (rarely). |
(Message sent Tue 11 Jun 1996, 05:52:34 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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