Our Musical House

Franklyn Ampico reproducing piano I - 1923

When we began "our project" which originally was to install a theatre style pipe organ, we found ourselves in need of a player piano for it. The first piano, which was a Starck, turned out to be in pretty rough shape, and we soon replaced it with the first Franklyn Ampico. We purchased it from Barton Player Piano Co. of Minneapolis, and then it all started. 

Word got out that Jon and myself collected player pianos, and soon people were telling us about instruments that they had seen, and we were finding out about pianos that needed a home. This is how the Bush and Gerts came to be in the collection. I also put out the word that I wanted a nickelodeon, and one day Don Barton called to tell me he had found this Coinola, but it needed a little work, so the arrangements were made, and several months later the Coinola was sitting in the living room. One by one the pianos started to accumulate and this year we received the latest addition, an Ampico Symphonique reproducing baby grand. We had a goal we the pianos started filtering into the house of trying to have them all be different in someway, but we have ended up with 3 Ampico reproducing pianos, other than that, they are all different. The collection now stands at 8 pianos (2 grands, 6 uprights).