This past year I have been devoting more attention to restoring and
maintaining my own instruments.  My recent efforts involve a Mason &
Hamlin RBB with an Ampico A mechanism.   When I acquired this piano in
1987 the pneumatic stack had already been recovered many years earlier
by someone else, but all the rest was original.  This allowed me to
restore various components as needed rather than do everything at once.
As a result of this piecemeal approach, I could experiment with new
materials and techniques and study the results in a shorter period of
time.

Perhaps the biggest time saver was not restoring the drawer, but
rather, placing an original Ampico B drawer on the piano.  This drawer
functioned in its original state up until a few months ago, however,
the drawer was ugly: burl wood and the reverse marquetry that adorns
the B drawer was partially missing and delaminated.  Because of its
poor drawer appearance, this piano was never featured in any of my
YouTube videos.

During the past winter months I restored the pneumatic stack.  You may
recall I volunteered at that time to provide all stack dimensions to
anyone needing them.   My only request came after it was too late as
the stack was back in the piano.

Earlier this week, the freshly restored B drawer was reinstalled.
Now, 100% of the components of this piano are rebuilt by me.   Some
refinishing of the drawer panels is incomplete, so the drawer is
"naked" at the moment, but until all fine regulations are finished,
that is OK.

Celebrating the return to service of this piano has taken the form
of a new YouTube presentation.  Since the inner workings of the B
drawer might be of interest, I decided to make the video with the
drawer in "naked" status.  The first video is focused on the music and
performance and does not study the drawer internals, but they are
visible.  I plan a pop music video that will demonstrate the workings
of the drawer.

Featured in my new YouTube is Danse Macabre played by Theodore Henrion.
Access the video by going to  http://youtu.be/2VdGOTK1wPw 

Bob Taylor
Missouri