Dear MMD Friends,  First of all, allow me to express my thanks to the
community for all of the contributions over the years.  I have enjoyed
reading MMD over the past year and have found in an invaluable tool and
resource for learning about all aspects of the hobby from folks who are
equally passionate as I.

I have a late Ampico A (1928) Symphonique Grand.  It was restored
within the last 20 years.  It is in tip-top playing condition and works
beautifully.  This is a double-edge sword, however, as any click, tick,
squeak, and noise, drives me crazy and sends me under the piano 'tout
de suite'.  Jody's appeal for additional submissions was encouragement
enough to bring my problem to you.

There is a tiny squeak coming from the stack.  I traced it from the
keybed, to the action, to the poppet-fingers to the key pneumatics and
couldn't find it.  It squeak did not sound when the piano was played by
a human.  I figured out it was more than one note that was squeaking at
a time and deduced it was only sounding when notes on the bottom most
row of the stack played.

I ran the test roll -- no squeak -- so I ran the test roll with Ampico
'Off' and held the expression to full volume.  In this case, I did hear
the squeak mostly in the middle of the piano, and again, only notes
played by pneumatics on the bottom-most row of the stack.  I tightened
the unit-valve bracket nuts and that helped quite a bit but there is
still a squeak.

My guess is that the support board which runs the entire length of the
stack somehow needs tightening where it attaches on either end of the
stack.  When the pneumatics in the middle of the piano, bottom row (F#,
A, middle C, E) press up at fortissimo, this support flexes slightly
and is squeaking somewhere.

I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction as to where to
tighten, if my guess is correct, or if there is another solution, what
it is.

Again, much thanks and respect for you all.  I continue to enjoy
reading, and now, participating.

Best,
Adam Aceto
Burbank, California