Bill Koenigsberg, in a posting of Friday, Dec. 27th, inquired about
Ampico piano rolls recut by Larry Givens.  Having been a friend of the
late Larry since the late 1950's, perhaps I can shed some light on his
re-cutting of Ampico (plus Duo-Art and Welte) rolls.

Larry acquired one of the original Ampico perforators from a Mr.
John Morse, who had purchased a group of perforation equipment from
Aeolian-American in the 1950s.  He proceeded to build a reader to copy
original piano rolls of all types (Ampico rolls in particular).

In my file is a letter dated May 3, 1960, typed by Larry on a section
of an Ampico roll just off the up-and-running perforator.  A portion
of it starts as follows:

  "Dear Al, How do you like my new stationery?  Obviously, this is
  part of a copy of an Ampico roll.  You can see that the perforator
  will require a bit more adjusting, as right now some of the holes
  which should be perfectly round are slightly elliptical.  Also,
  you will notice a burr around the edges of each hole..."

He introduced his Ampico rolls on the 23rd of May, 1960, with a letter
giving the price of his recut rolls at $2.50 each for small rolls and
$3.50 for the medium size rolls, regardless of type or selections.
Postage and insurance was extra.  He discusses the boxes he will use
and the spool ends, etc.; however, does not include a list of rolls.

List No. 1 came out on June 18th, 1960.  The first offering is Ampico
215941, "It's De-Lovely," by the Sherry Brothers, price $2.50.  On the
same list are the first two Duo-Art re-cut rolls, #70947 "Rhapsody In
Blue, Part One," and #68787 "Rhapsody in Blue, Part Two," both played by
George Gershwin, offered at $7.00 for both rolls (not sold separately).

From these first offerings until the following April, 1961, he used a
bleached white paper.  In a letter to customers on April 11, 1961, he
announces that all re-cuts from then on will be on an improved grade
of paper (the tan glassine type paper).  It will be only two-thirds as
thick as the old paper, thus giving better winding qualities.  Stronger
boxes and new dies for the perforator are also mentioned.

As far as a complete catalog, there doesn't seem to be one.  I have
all 23 of his lists, from June, 1960, to November, 1971.  The last is
listed as a 'catalog' and lists some 60 rolls.  As a guess, I would
think the total number of issues might be around 150, more or less.

Larry is now using a light colored glassine stock.  At about this time
(1971) he started cutting rolls for Harold Powell and eventually ceased
cutting rolls entirely.  Not long after he sold all the equipment to
the Powells [Klavier Music Rolls, Burbank, Calif.].

That only touches the surface of Larry Givens venture into the roll
business.  He was the pioneer in the reissue of original reproducing
rolls and the recording, arranging, coding and issue of new reproducing
rolls.

Alan H. Mueller
Greece (Rochester), New York