Hello Peter and MMDers,  This is an interesting insight into the
possible thinking at the time these players were built.  I was very
disappointed to find that Aeolian did not see fit to have more than 80
notes available for playing non-Duo-Art rolls in later models whereas
the early models played all 88 notes with Duo-Art off.

There was some cost saving here since the extra pneumatics were not
provided in the later models but that cannot be the whole reason in
the Marque Ampico.  It does seem that a full 88 note span became the
exception in later roll production and player makers presumed that
most users tended to play the newer rolls and did not need those extra
notes.  A case of the marketers dictating the customers' wants -- very
familiar!

Back to the Marque Ampico -- it might be that they thought that the
owners might want to play all types of roll, including other repro-
ducing rolls like Duo-Art, so they enabled only 80 notes to cover the
"worst case" without compromising the typically less than 88 notes of
later non-expression rolls.  They certainly didn't cater for latter-day
nuts like us who like to play even older-fashioned full span rolls.

The self-cancelling "Ampico Off" switch is interesting and understand-
able for the time.  The average user at that time was not always
"technically aware" and might even have complained about poor
performance on Ampico rolls only to be told by the repair technician
that the switch was in the wrong position.  I will admit that
occasionally I have had to reset the switch after a Duo-Art roll
sounded lifeless!  I guess it all depends on which type of roll you
play most often.

Cheers,
Darrell Clarke
Clarke's Corner, Adelaide
South Australia