Hi all,  After 9 months of work I'd like to report that I finally put
my Ampico back together and am starting to hear results.

I would like to thank all the members of MMD for their help and
support, especially Craig Brougher, D. L. Bullock, and Stephen Kent
Goodman.

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Marilyn of the Leather Supply
House -- her materials were top-notch.

I've got a lot of comments on mistakes that I made which I will post
later to help other amateurs that may want to attempt this task, but
suffice it to say that the three most important lessons that I learned
are:

1.  Don't rely on old material.  Bakelite, pot metal, rubber tubing,
pneumatic cloth and leather all have a life span of useful service.
I don't want to re-open the re-do the valves can of worms, but if in
doubt, replace it can be a good rule of thumb.

2.  Use only the best material and test it.  I wasted a good 3-4 months
because I used the wrong leather in rebuilding the valves -- but
besides using the wrong type of leather, using substandard materials
can also cause you to take everything apart again and have to re-do all
the work.

3.  Test everything at every station.  Building a bench-tester for
individual valves (for example) took me 1 day but when I found small
leaks with it, I knew that the efforts were worth-while.  Tell me who
wants to put everything in and tear it all down later?  Much easier
to test everything on the bench and repair -- improve it before you
install it than to spend hours underneath the piano looking for that
leak.

I'll update you all with the results when I've finished the regulation
and fine tuning of the system, but it already has the beginnings of a
fine instrument.

Eliyahu Shahar