I seem to recollect that 'eastern' Phillips screws, are deeper, and their screwdrivers are different. When I worked on Yamaha electronic organs, I bought one of their screwdrivers, while on course. It did work better. Oh yes, have you tried an impact tool, with a Phillips head. They have always worked on really stubborn screws. John Ross ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Sivak" <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net> To: "pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 10:13 PM Subject: [pianotech] screwed but good List This is an embarrassing question, but I'd guess I'd rather be embarrassed on the list, than in front of a client. What do you do when you can't take apart something because the screws are too tight? This has happened to me on cheek block screws, lyre screws, and now, a pedal box. The piano is a Wurlitzer, a Chinese import, less than 10 years old. The damper pedal is loose in its housing---it moves horizontally in addition to vertically---and the only way to repair it is to take the pedal box apart. There are four big brass Phillips-head screws on the bottom that I cannot get the screws to budge. Not one of them. They're brass screws in some kind of whitish metal---could be aluminum? Not sure. In the past, I felt that part of the problem was "the right tool for the right job". I didn't have any BIG screwsdrivers to take on the cheek block screws, or the lyre screws. So this time, I went and bought a BIG screwdriver in hopes of getting a better fit and a little more leverage, but no luck. I tried putting a little Protek on the screws. Nope. Any suggestions? I'd hate to have to tell the client I couldn't fix the problem because I couldn't get the pedal box open. He might kick sand in my face. Weakly, Tom Sivak Chicago John M.Ross Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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