I own a very early CAR 5'8" Mason and Hamlin Ampico grand.  According
to the shipping records, it was shipped to the Cable Music House in
Minneapolis during October of 1924.  Unfortunately, the original ivory
keys have been replaced with a molded plastic kind of cap which
required shaving down the original keys.  They absolutely have to go.

I am not a piano technician and I might be wrong on this but I do not
think that they changed the scale at any point on the 5'8" Mason during
the 1920's.  If this is true, they keys should be interchangeable from
another one.  I am looking to buy the keys from another 5'8" AR that
are at least restorable.  I do not need the whole action, just the
keys.  The ivories do not have to all be perfect but somewhere out
in player piano land, there is probably a sister piano that is past
restoration that would have a suitable set of keys that could be used
for replacement on this one.

The current keys could be built up and recovered with new plastic that
would be suitable but the keys appear to have actually been cut through
some of the weights.  This key issue may be the difference between this
piano getting restored and or my saving it for someone else.

Randy Hammond