On January 3rd, Kermit Hobbs wrote of an action that is stuck in his
grand piano. You spoke of dropping the lyre and everything under the
piano bed.

I'm not very familiar with Ampicos, nor any modifications required to
the pedal trapwork. Still, I expect there is a cast iron lever under
the keybed that shifts the action to one side when you press down on
the left pedal. Did you remove that as well? It may be sticking up
just a little too far, or be blocked by some piece of debris.

I am assuming that system there has a strong spring on one side of
the action which pushes it back into place. While the lyre is still
installed, pushing the left pedal up and down while pulling on the
action might free things up. Often these actions just need a good tug,
as that spring is  there holding things firmly in place.

However, I'll add a disclaimer at this point: the guys at Boston
Chickering were a very inventive bunch, and before any strong-arming
you are right to make sure there are no obstacles. For example,
there might be screws at the front or sides of the keyframe, perhaps
partially hidden, holding it down. Expect the unexpected.

Shine a strong light over the top of the action, and make sure that
there are no obstructions. For example, somebody might have pounded
a tuning pin down too far, or the regulating screws may be binding
against the bottom of the pinblock.

I'd also pay attention to any screws on the bottom of the keybed, even
those that look original. They could have been replaced in the distant
past or just cranked down too far.

These are long shots, but possibly somebody accessed one of the keyframe
glide bolts that rest on the keybed and turned it down too far? In
addition, the hammers may seem at rest, but if the capstans are raised
too high will be blocking against the back of the plate, or the
pinblock.

Richard Friedman
Upstate New York