Pianotech

  • 1.  Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-22-2022 21:48
    Greetings,
    one of my customers has a 1921 Knabe Ampico piano which was refurbished in 1992 (new sound board, new actoin/keyboard, refinished case, modern pneumatic pump). They also have 200+ rolls for the system.
    They want to donate this piano to a non-profit educational institution. The receiving party will only be responsible for transportation.
    Note:  this is not a scam..... I have serviced this piano several times.  The owners are looking to downsize and won't have room for the piano.
    If anyone knows of such institution, i will pass their name/contact person to my customer and they can then discuss the particulars.
    Thank you,
    Peter

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    Petrus Janssen
    Peachtree City GA
    678-416-8055
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  • 2.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-23-2022 09:29

    Mr Janssen, I just happened to see this. I definitely know of a wonderful (kind of small but VERY ACTIVE!) music school that could benefit greatly from this piano. 

    The name of the School is Academie Musique and they are located in Temple, Texas. They are about 45 to 50 minutes north of Austin, Texas. 

    Allow me to touch base with her if this is still available, and I will see what they think. 

    Thanks very much, Kevin Fortenberry, RPT

    Do you have any pics? 



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    Kevin Fortenberry
    Registered Piano Technician
    Longview, TX 75602
    806-778-3962
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-23-2022 09:43
    hello Kevin,
    i will contact the owner and ask for pictures, otherwise go take pics myself.
    Peter

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    Petrus Janssen
    Peachtree City GA
    678-416-8055
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-23-2022 09:49

    Okay that sounds really good. Also, she will want to know the approximate length. These people are AMAZING! They met at Temple College for about 12 or more years…completely outgrew that option-and see now renting a huge annex building from the Episcopal church downtown. 

    But let me touch base with her…make sure nothing has changed in the past few months. 
    Thanks again! Kevin 



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    Kevin Fortenberry
    Registered Piano Technician
    Longview, TX 75602
    806-778-3962
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-26-2022 17:31
    All well and good. But is there a qualified player technician available to service it?...Plays well... by who's standards? There will be expensive issues, are they prepared for the needed maintenance. It's not a TV or Stereo. It'll need constant maintenance.  It will be LOUD in the room, even at its lowest setting. It should not be considered/used as 'background music'. Being a piano, it has definite 'presence' in the room. Just so you know...

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
    mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
    http://www.pianocapecod.com
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-26-2022 17:39
    Playing the rolls will require instruction. There is a way to do it and a way not to do it. Roll indexing (to the spool end and tracker bar) is very important. It is not for an uninformed person to just 'stick in a roll'. There will need to be set up a monitor/s for the player aspect.  Things can go wrong very fast.  Be prepared for expensive repairs.

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
    mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
    http://www.pianocapecod.com
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-26-2022 19:03
    I hate to be a damp rag on the event but modern player cloth has a life expectancy of about 30 years, so it might be in need of a complete rebuild on the player mechanism. The leather pouches (being enclosed - if they were replaced) might still be viable but the pneumatics and expressions are suspect as is the pump. Wholesale, the playermechanism is worth about $3500 or less, if you can find someone to take it out. Then there's the value of the stand-alone piano.

    Usually, this piano would be gutted of the player mechanism to be installed into a previously gutted art case piano. The real value is in the art case piano.

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
    mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
    http://www.pianocapecod.com
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-26-2022 20:16
    thank you Jon. This is good information to have.
    The player system is working very well (completely redone in 1991-1993), but I understand that time isn't a friend of the player system's components unfortunately just didn't expect the newly installed parts to have such a short life expectancy...
    Kind regards, 
    Peter

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    Petrus Janssen
    Peachtree City GA
    678-416-8055
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-26-2022 23:53
    So here's a scenario. The player might have 10+ years left before needing major restoration but the school won't be able to afford it as the money should go towards other things. The player will be removed and retro-fit into a previously gutted art case piano because that is where the market is. I thought the Amipco B didn't appear until the late 1920's (from what I know, the drawer looks like an Ampico A). It is a rich man's hobby. Or, the school could archive it and offer it for a donation to the school, they might recoup the cost of the move. If the player system were removed, they would still have a piano.

    The donors need to have the piano appraised by a 'Certified Appraiser' before transfer if they are looking for a tax deduction with an appraised value more than $5000.00. The appraisal will be expensive and they might not want to donate it if the appraisal doesn't meet their expectations. The IRS has specific rules (and forms) about this.  A market-savvy piano technician (uncertified) can only appraise to $4999.99, which might be enough for the donors. The school would also need to possess it for a certain period of time for it to be effective (two years?). Otherwise, the donor can only deduct what the school actually sold the piano for
    (I'm not sure of how removal of the Ampico would figure in). It's a slippery slope because the appraiser is held for the tax liability for the difference, not the donor or donee; if there were an IRS audit. The appraiser has to be a disinterested third party, not associated with the donor or the school.

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
    mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
    http://www.pianocapecod.com
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  • 10.  RE: Knabe Ampico piano

    Posted 02-26-2022 17:21
    here is more information about the Knabe grand piano (5'6") with the Ampico reproducing system.  Pictures will be attached as well.
    If someone knows of such not for profit educational institution which might be interested, please contact me.

    We wish to donate our 1921 vintage Ampico Knabe reproducing grand piano (5'6") to an educational institution with a program in music and piano. The reproducing pianos were the forerunner of the modern Yamaha Disklavier.

     We purchased the piano at auction in 1991 for $150 and spent $20,000 having it refurbished by a team in Cincinnati headed by Ronald F. Wehmeier of the American Theater Organ Society. The restoration included a new sounding board, new action and keyboard, a refinished case, a new supplementary pneumatic pump, and all new rubber tubing (Ron estimated about 1000 pieces of tubing). We have kept the piano tuned. The reproducing mechanism is in very good working order. Ron has restored many reproducing pianos. In addition, he has integrated several reproducing pianos with his private Wurlitzer theater organ (he used to be the Midwest service tech for the M. P. Möller Organ Co. before it went out of business). The member of the restoration team who handled the action and keyboard was the son of the former manager of the Baldwin factory, which had been in Cincinnati for many years.

    Over the last 30 years we have accumulated more than 200 rolls for this Ampico Model B. Of note is that this piano was built by Knabe when the company was still located in Baltimore. I consider our most notable rolls to be of Sergei Rachmaninoff playing his own Prelude in C sharp Minor and of George Gershwin playing his Rhapsody in Blue. These two rolls were duplicated from the master rolls by Keystone Music Company in Bethlehem, PA.

     By way of background shared with us by Ron Wehmeier, these instruments were manufactured between 1920 and 1940, after which their popularity waned. It is estimated 40,000 were produced with 20,000 remaining in 1991. They were very popular in post-war Japan. The artist would play on a special piano and a device would make pencil marks on a paper roll to record the notes as well as volume and intensity ("expression"). Technicians would translate the pencil marks into punched holes on a paper roll, which then was used to reproduce copies. The rolls reminded me of the computer punch cards we used to learn Fortran in the 1960s and have additional holes for controlling expression in addition to the holes for the keys.

    Our piano was manufactured in Baltimore by Knabe and then shipped to Rochester, NY, where it was retrofitted by Ampico with the reproducing mechanism. My understanding is that Ampico subsequently acquired Knabe.

    We hope to make a gift of this piano to a music program with an interest in the history of music technology. I have attached several recent photos of the instrument.

    Best regards,

    Andrew

    Andrew R. La Barbera (Ph.D., Columbia, 1975)

    Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

    University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

    Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

    University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine

    Associate Director

    Jack Mitchell Archives



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    Petrus Janssen
    Peachtree City GA
    678-416-8055
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    Original Message