Well, Rob, you stuck your foot into this time. If the flanges are plasic, replace with wood or new plastic from the supply houses and then try to walk away from the piano for if there are a few broken plastic parts there are very likely many other parts as well, including elbows, that are on the verge of breaking as well. If you can chase the holes in the cast iron without removing the action, do so, even if it takes longer than if you did it with the action out. If you cannoty chase the holes insert a lead anchor and use a smaller bolt. This will sinch up the action without removing it. I cannot imagine that anyone would tie the stickers into the key without a means for ease of removal, but if this is the case I would opt for using a drill and a sticker adjustment tool available from the supply houses. Remove the keys, this will give you the room you need to remove the action. DO NOT try to remove the keys, keyframe or keybed because you will be putting undue stress on the action and may cause more damage then you bargened for by breaking many plastic parts. The old plastic was a solvent based plastic and the solvent continued to evaperate over the years and it has become VERY fragil. You may be looking at wippen flanges, jacks, backcheck blocks and elbows made of the same material. If this is the case you are in for a major action restoration and it may be less expensive and time saving to replace all the action parts, including the hammers with new. I do not envy you this, but procede with caution and great care. Now that I have scared you do death, go do a good job. Newton nhunt@jagat.com
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