Hello MMD readers,  Just purchased a 1926 Brewster Marque Ampico
upright, and hope to transport it back to Maine in August, using my
Haulmark piano trailer.  See this URL for the rig, which has an
illustration of our 1929 Story & Clark on the remote control electric
winch:  http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/fotopg1.htm

What's unusual about this purchase of a "frozen stiff/as is" pedal
Ampico is that (a) it's going to be rebuilt (nearby) in Maine by
technician Bob Hunt, and (b) he's going to make available his
Franklin pedal Ampico for my Fall/Winter use, while the Brewster gets
restored -- both as a piano and as an expression player.

If you or your friends are interested in the forthcoming Ampico rolls
we'll create, please send us your Internet address.  At this time we
are compiling an Ampico database for all announcements about the
Master Rolls and the forthcoming releases.

If you have heard our arrangement of Cleopatra Rag by Lamb (Ampico,
4-hand arr. -- based on the Hersh & Montgomery RCA-Victor LP) you can
imagine the virtuoso music we'll be offering in the near future.

Artcraft intends to go the opposite direction in musical performance
from the original Ampico library.  If you want dinner music and dreamy
medleys -- background music, as it were -- the old selections are
always available, often as recuts.  If something like Cleopatra Rag --
which will transform the Ampico into a "soloist" or "virtuoso
performer" -- is what you seek for your electric player, then we hope
to fill that void.

Cleopatra Rag, by the way, is not available from Artcraft.  A few
copies are still available at $17.00 + 2.00 shipping from this address:

  Dale Lawrence
  The Automatic Music Foundation
  837 Coventry Road
  Kensington, CA 94707

This was created for a performance during the '88 San Francisco AMICA
club convention, which also featured Max Morath on the performance
bill.  It was this Ragtime arrangement which led to Max suggesting that
Artcraft create rolls from 2 of his own musical compositions: One For
Norma and Poverty Gulch ("Cripple Creek Suite") -- both as 88-Note and
Duo-Art releases.

As a side note, Cleopatra Rag is also available @ $15.00 plus shipping
in a special 88-Note arrangement, which uses the extra top keys in the
treble -- as featured by the duo-pianists on the out-of-print Victor
LP.

Again, you can get in touch with Dale Lawrence for this perforated
extravaganza -- in either format.

Let's hear from you, if you want to receive E-Mail announcements about
Artcraft Ampico rolls.

Regards,
Douglas Henderson

Artcraft Music Rolls
Wiscasset, ME 04578 USA
(207) 882-7420
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/