Ampico  Wheelock

The brown mahogany Wheelock Ampico was extremely water damaged one winter a while back.  The owner came home to St. Louis to find that our 12 below zero freeze had left 17 inches of ice coating the front wall of her house.  Everything in the first floor living room had been terribly water damaged when the second floor radiator system had burst gushing water for several days.  Of course she called us at Piano World because we restore the un-restorable. 

The piano took much longer to restore than normal because there were many glue joints that had to be put back together.  Just the keyboard took months to dry out and many keys were in several pieces.  Unfortunately the original ivory key tops which had been flawless had to be replaced with plastic since they had all curled up.  All key buttons were unglued and several keys were separated at the seams which normally never come loose.  Luckily we got the piano soon enough to prevent most rust and more extensive darkening of wood which would have turned to rot if it had stayed wet any longer.  The bow-front roll cabinet and the original bench were also badly water damaged and both had to be totally disassembled and reconstructed.  This was all necessary because the piano had been a family heirloom for decades and the owner could not ever consider getting rid of the instrument.

Water damaged the Ampico B drawer for which we had to make several new panels.  The stack's pneumatic channels and most other components were cracked or seeping.  Shellac had to be poured through almost everything.  We usually do that anyway but this one required a more extensive job of it.  Photos of the Ampico will be forthcoming as soon as I dig them out and scan them.  They were taken before I began getting all my photos on disk as well as paper.

Here, the strings are on the Wheelock and the coils have been pulled up and piano tuned three times.  The soundboard looks a little darker than is normal in our shop.  It was badly stained from the extensive water damage sustained.

The refinished brown mahogany piano has all new Renner action parts inside.  The front view looks a bit funny before the Ampico drawer was installed.  The plate was refinished in the original factory shade of gold and done using the same methods.  All dents and dings were removed before gold was applied.  Further work has been done as the piano is now complete.  More pictures will appear here when they are available.

The next step was installing the Ampico system.  The piano must be on the side for this.  Below is the Ampico before the pump and drawer were added.  This 1937 piano uses an Ampico B drawer and stack.  The rest of the expression system is the standard Ampico A in the center next to the motor is the single crescendo for the B drawer A system. The pump is a slightly updated version of the A pump. 

Here is a close up of the stack after installation.

This is the completed system after installation of the Ampico.  Next we put it up on its legs and began playing 200 rolls on it as we regulate each of its systems.  By the 200th roll the whole system is playing like new.

Here is the final picture of the piano just before it left for Los Angeles.  The runner has been taken off for the movers