Ampico (short for "American Piano Company") was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being Duo-Art and Welte. A number of distinguished classical and popular pianists, such as Rachmaninoff, recorded for Ampico, and their rolls are a legacy of 19th century and early 20th century aesthetic and musical practice. The player piano is a type of piano that plays music without the need for a human pianist to depress the normal keys or pedals. ... M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical musical Instruments of highest quality. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, also Sergey Rachmaninov or Serge Rakhmaninov (Серге́й Васи́льевич Рахма́нинов), (April 1, 1873 – March 28, 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist...
Because of the condition of Ampico's lighter weight leather and double flap system, the natural decay has subtracted roughly 10-15 percent from the overall capacity of that pump.
Also, in the Ampico, The setting of the amplifier is adjusted to a specific level for the piano it resides in, and often this was throttled by the factory on purpose.
Ampico wanted a more tame, softer playing instrument because I'm told that Charles Stoddard had a hearing problem that included ringing in the ears and was sensitive to pianos playing loudly, anyway.