<HTML><HTML>Jonathan-- Your approach and excellent advice is something I myself usually follow. I may have learned it from my Dad, who was both a mechanical and electrical engineer. Here are two recent examples, not specifically on pianos buit which certainly apply. While disassembling my bandsaw in order to "restore" it I was very careful. Don't remove something until you know how to put it back. For iunstance, the upper drum is held onto the frame by a casting and adjustment assembly held onto the frame with two bolts. Since it was not obvious that the unit was possibly adjustable for angle by loosening the bolts and twisting the unit, I first made sure that both bolts were tight and then removed only one. This procedute kept the unit firmly in place, but allowed me to look under the removed bolt to see whether the casting's hole was oval or circular. Another general thing that I devise was minor refinishing of the paint without having to strip and respray (after doing a complete disassembly). The bandsaw is a Craftsman from the 20s and has a dark blue baked enamel finish. At some point in its life my Dad sprayed the workshop with white paint to make it look nice. He did not mask the bandsaw sufficently well, so it suffered from several ugly splotches of white. I figured that the factory finish was enamel with the splotches in water-based paint. Using 409 in a sprayer and soft rags the white came off with hardly any effort. However the 409 also took off the otiginal gloss finish (not the paint itself). I was able to restore the gloss with a power buffer! Cheers, Dave Talcott</HTML>