Hi, It might be a very small world when it comes to Marque-Ampicos
in the UK.
Many years ago I had a good friend, Dr. Al Bottomley, who died
tragically in about 1980. He was an avid collector of reproducing
pianos, and one item in his collection was an upright Marshall piano
fitted with an Angelus stack and mechanism. The local factory had
'bodged in' an Ampico tracker bar and parts of the expression system
and sold it as a Marque sometime in the early 30's when the industry
here was on it's last gasp. It was obvious they had collected together
various odd bits and pieces and cobbled the thing together.
Al and I continued the desecration by 'bodging in' a Duo-Art pump and a
bit more Ampico mechanism. It was a good basic piano and we used it as
an experimental test bed. Surprisingly, by the time we'd finished it
sounded quite good. When Al died I was given the rolls and the piano
was sold off (I declined it as a gift !).
Could it be the same ... ?
Richard Stibbons MIMIT
Cromer, Norfolk
England
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