-- A responsible opposing viewpoint.

I consider myself a devout preservationist, but don't have share the
horror of some MMDers regarding Larry Lobel's installing the Ampico
system from his Mason & Hamlin into a 9 foot Yamaha.  Two reasons
support my thinking:

(1) Mason & Hamlin did not manufacture a "special" piano to have an
Ampico installed in it. My understanding is that although the Ampico
system was installed in the various of American Piano Company pianos
(i.e., Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, Fischer, Chickering, Marshall & Wendell),
these pianos were also sold as "non-reproducers", and that such pianos
were the same make, model and shape of piano as those in which the
Ampico was installed (with perhaps some minor modifications, i.e.,
tubing holes in support struts).  The use of the "drawer" for the
Ampico system permitted this.

I think that if Larry were gutting a Duo-Art, or an original "Welte
Built", this would be a true "gutting".  Stated another way, I would
not support any removal of a player system that would then render
components of the piano vestigial (i.e., doors for a spool box that
lead to nowhere; a 6 inch gap between the strings and the keys that
formerly housed the spool box, air motor, etc.).   Such would not be
the case here.

(2)  Even if (1) above is incorrect, another Ampico system could
ultimately be installed back in the Mason & Hamlin that Larry intends
to sell separately.  If the buyer is amenable, he might also take
possession of the drawer to keep with the piano so that if some future
owner would want to place an Ampico back in it, he could use orphaned
Ampico parts and the drawer (though that might be a lot to ask of the
new owner, who may well care less).

Just my humble opinion...

Timothy Baxter
Atlanta, Georgia