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MMD > Archives > August 1997 > 1997.08.26 > 11Prev  Next


Premier Player Grand
By Mike Knudsen

Sorry to get Dean's note to the effect that this is a low-end piano and
most likely not an Ampico reproducing action.

I'll try to get another look at it.  Being a social occasion, I didn't
feel like pulling the full nerd act and crawling under the piano :-)

 [ Oh, Mike!  You could've been "the Life of the Party!"  -- Robbie  ;)

And the canvas cover was snapped on so I couldn't see anything behind the
stack.  Visible on either side of the stack were large pneumatics that
I'd guess are hammer-rail lifters ("soft pedal").

I didn't slide the spool drawer all the way out (you never know when a
drawer is going to fall out on you), but I did see a straight-line Tempo
scale with its lever sticking up through the metal panel, and a couple of
other levers.

BUT -- there were four extra-height expression slots on each side of
the tracker bar -- so I assumed it wasn't just an 88-noter.  No wide
Themodist holes, so not a Duo-Art.  Though I have heard that very late
Duo-Art grands (after the Aeolian-Ampico merger) used a drawer spoolbox
(don't we wish they all had...), I assumed this was an Ampico.  Sorry
about jumping the gun.

Now, how many of those extra slots were tubed up to anything?  Well, it's
time for me and my flashlight to pay a return visit.  Even if this is
"just" an 88-er, I think this family would enjoy having it playing.

Mike Knudsen


(Message sent Tue 26 Aug 1997, 19:48:41 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Grand, Player, Premier

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