>Gary >One very big word of caution on removing the Wurlitzer drop action. The >action bracket bolts on some of them are simply very long, round head screws. > In the factory they gave these long screws a downward tap with a hammer to >provide some down bearing for the action brackets. This caused them to >travel out of round when being unscrewed and returned. This lead to them >frequently breaking off at the threads, usually on the last turn when being >re-installed. >Consequently Wurlitzer, before going belly up, was providing, free of charge, >a special tool for extracting those broken off screws from the piano. It is >not a fun job. I caution you, if they are out of round when removed that you >should use new screws in their place. >David Sanderson >Littleton, MA Wow! This explains it! (Maybe.) I once worked on a Wurlitzer console and two of the action bracket "bolts" (the long screws you mentioned) broke off. I thought I remembered them breaking off when I was taking them OUT, but I could be wrong. A lot of the metal (like the strings and springs) on this piano seemed strangely corroded, so I thought maybe something had happened to the screws to make the metal deteriorate so much that they just broke off. I called a Wurlitzer dealer to get new screws, since I couldn't find any of the right size anywhere, and he never mentioned the extractor .... and never sent me the screws I paid him for. I was going to attempt removing them with a screw extractor from the hardware store (I didn't have much confidence in this process), but the customer told me he would see if it played OK without replacing the screws. Well, it did ... as long as you didn't depress the sustain pedal, which pushed the action away from the plate! Sigh ... Barb Barasa
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