Foot-pumped Ampico
By Bob Conant
Bing Gibbs wrote:
> Other than the fact that maybe it's rare, is there any advantage
> to having a foot pumper reproducing player?
I have a foot pumped Ampico as well as an electric Ampico grand. I find the foot pumped Ampico (The Marque Ampico) to be a lot of fun because there are many times that I want to pump through a roll on my own, put in expression, sing along or whatever. The Marque Ampico provides the same personal interaction as a standard player piano in this regard.
There were several versions of the expression mechanisms, most based on the Ampico A expression (although Terry Smythe has one that is quite different) and with varying degrees of success in their ability to "reproduce". As an Ampico, mine works fairly well but is not the machine of choice for reproducing all the subtleties of expression.
The downside, if there is one, is that it is a bit more complicated to restore than a straight player piano but is not worth much, if any, more when done. Personally, I would go for it if the piano and player are in reasonable restorable condition. Just don't expect perfect reproducing effects from it. Just my opinion.
Bob Conant
Endicott, NY |
(Message sent Sun 2 Mar 1997, 01:29:50 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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