1921 Chickering Ampico
Reproducing Piano
See the AMPICO factory smokestack in East Rochester, NY
Well over a month ago I went to look at a player piano, a
reproducing piano, in a woman's basement in Livonia, Michigan. The piano was
this Chickering Ampico upright, complete, un-restored. The case wasn't great,
the piano needed everything restored. I made an offer and she never phoned; I
assumed somebody else purchased it. A month later she called asking if I
was still interested in the piano. She said she'd sell it to me for $50, but I
had to move it out of the basement that week or else she'd chop it up with an
ax and it would go to the dump!
Similar Ampico pianos I've priced in the past have been at least a 3-hour drive
away and $750-$1200. Well, I got a friend and U-Haul and went to get the beast.
It took four men to get the piano up on the truck and I roped it in. After a
30-minute drive to my mom's house in Flint, I was unloading it from the truck
-- two college guys, 140 pounds each, trying to control an 800-pound piano on a
dolly going down a ramp with a slope of about 30 degrees (that's steep!) was a
bad, bad idea.
My friend was behind it, I was in front of it, but off to the side, so I could
run if it went out of control. Anyway, it went out of control. It started
pulling him, he grabbed the back and it fell off the ramp onto its back on the
garage floor. What a chord that was: 88 notes played in "Piano
Forte!" I first thought I'd never get the thing upright again, next I
hoped it wasn't destroyed, and then I noticed his foot was trapped underneath!
I was panicked and figured his foot was destroyed, leg broken, didn't know. I
managed to lift the piano off the ground, by myself, to set him free. Later
that night it would take six neighbors, in attire ranging from pajamas to
suits, to get the piano upright again and to the other side of the garage. I
guess I do have super-human strength after all, it just has to be the right
circumstances.
The next day my friend and I went to the doctor. (Twenty minutes after the
accident he could walk on his foot and wasn't in terrible pain, just sore.) The
doctor said no sprain, no break, just bruised. I guess he was super-human, too!
I'm not sure about how much damage was caused to the piano, maybe none at all.
When all was said and done, I had purchased the piano, paid for the truck,
supplies and gasoline, and a nice Japanese dinner for two for $242.72.
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