<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div>Ed, yes, just slide it out. But be prepared for goofy gizmos to drive you insane: AKA how the cheekblocks and such are secured may not be "normal", and the action will be screwed to the keybed in the front (hammer rail for "soft" --- not "una corda"). And the keyslip may be "keyed" to flathead screws (it is on the uprights) along the front of the action frame and cheek blocks, and will need to be lifted (gently bumped/pried with a very wide blade putty knife) STRAIGHT up. Have fun, and kindly beware of arachnids.<br /><br />Thumpe<br /><br />P.S. That was a glorious bit of writing, friend, and much enjoyable on this cold, soggy day. But the term, compatriot, is "wide berth" (nautical) not "birth". (Sorry-- that's the irrepressible proofreader in me speaking!)<br />P.P.S. The only "spider" consistently in an AMPICO is on the end of the pump crank. It's a BIG one, but fear not: it is securely imprisoned in cast iron and wood. </div></td></tr></table> <div id="_origMsg_"> <div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif:font-size:10pt"> <br /> <div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"> <font size="2" face="Tahoma"> <hr size="1"> <b> <span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span> </b> Stephen Grattan <lostchordclinic@ameritech.net>; <br> <b> <span style="font-weight:bold:">To:</span> </b> <pianotech@ptg.org>; <br> <b> <span style="font-weight:bold:">Subject:</span> </b> Re: [pianotech] Ampicophobia <br> <b> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span> </b> Fri, Feb 22, 2013 3:20:55 PM <br> </font> <br> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" style="font:inherit;"><div style="font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt;"><div></div> <div>Hi Ed,</div> <div> </div> <div>Any AMPICO I've worked on - the action just slides out.  At least you don't have a thru the keys Duo -Art!<br> </div> <div><strong><font color="#0000ff">Steve Grattan</font></strong></div> <div><strong><font color="#0000ff">Lost Chord Clinic</font></strong></div> <div><br></div> <div style="FONT-FAMILY:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;FONT-SIZE:10pt;"><br> <div style="FONT-FAMILY:times new roman, new york, times, serif;FONT-SIZE:12pt;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"> <hr SIZE="1"> <b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">From:</span></b> Ed Foote <a440a@aol.com><br><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">To:</span></b> pianotech@ptg.org<br><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">Sent:</span></b> Fri, February 22, 2013 10:07:52 AM<br><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">Subject:</span></b> [pianotech] Ampicophobia<br></font><br><font color="black" size="2" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif"> <div style="FONT-FAMILY:helvetica, arial;COLOR:black;"><font size="3">Greetings, <br>Spiders. I hate spiders. Perhaps because our mother hated spiders, simultaneously shrieking and levitating in the kitchen, my brothers and I became adept at gauging the size of the menace by the pitch and altitude she accomplished. Roaches were more dangerous, as they caused her to be propelled sideways during the first three octave vocal glissando of her escape flight, but it is the arachnidan aspects of life that find their fear deep in my DNA, a boot-sector problem, if you will. </font></div> <div style="FONT-FAMILY:helvetica, arial;COLOR:black;"><font size="2">       </font><font size="3"> Wariness was warranted, growing up in the deep South, and anything that looked like a spider, or even evidence of a spider, was worthy of either a wide birth or a fast swat with the nearest blunt object. Even an obvious rubber one gets hit, just in case.<br> </font><font size="2">      </font><font size="3">It is the distant memory of being caught i</font><font size="2">n </font><font size="3">cobwebs running through my head as I lay on my back under an otherwise innocent Knabe, pregnantly laden with an Ampico-A. The normal comforting underside view of a sound board obscured by a mesh of tubing and wires that could masquerade as a huge nest for a Woodstock-like gathering of large, black-legged spiders. <br> </font><font size="2">      </font><font size="3">I would like to avoid this gnarl of pneumatic nightmares, but there is an action in need on the other side, waiting like a distressed damsel marooned on a river island, suffering the loss of its motion, crowded hammers, and weak jacks,. An easy save, were it not for this forest of tubes and couplings between us. <br><br>In 34 years, I have learned not to be a hero. I have been beaten by a piano before. I have plunged into unknown territory amidst the sounds of snapping old maple and dusty felt tearing, only to emerge with mediocre results showing for the low, low, wages found at the bottom of a vertical learning curve. <br> </font><font size="2">       </font><font size="3">I hesitate. I explain my reluctance to the apprehensive owner. I tell him that I will seek counsel regarding extracting his action and my paycheck before I do anything. So, august members with some familiarity of the Ampico-A, the question is, can I just slide this action out of the piano, or must I disconnect things airy and electric</font><font size="3">? <br>Thanks, <br><br>Ed Foote RPT<br>http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html</font><br></div></font></div></div></div></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> </div> </div>