Hello Group,  It has been forever since I've posted here.  The bug has
bitten me and I am in the process of restoring an Ampico A.  I've had
the piano for over 15 years and it's been waiting for a restoration and
I have finally gotten around to it.

This Ampico has been "restored" before; actually restoration is a poor
choice of words.  Among the nightmarish problems I have uncovered, the
best two had me giggling in disbelief.  On each pneumatic deck, the
original threaded rods to hold the unit valve blocks in place must have
been stripped or lost, so blue plastic hollow wall anchors ("mollies")
were installed into each deck and then long machine screws were used
to clamp the valves in place -- with a major vacuum leak!  The other
problem I found when taking apart the unit valves for restoration --
I found a hose washer in one of the valves to take the place of the
black valve face.

At any rate, I am searching for a set of threaded rods and nuts to
clamp the valves in place and a handful of black valve seats.  If
anyone can help it would be appreciated.

Many thanks to Paul Manganaro for his help thus far with a few
technical questions.  Please email me direct if you'd like:
LaGattaDJ@aol.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply].

Thanks!
Dave Lagatta