More tedious restoration questions for the on-line horde:

1)  First off, I need a noun. What's the correct term for the big slab
of (ply)wood which carries the bellows (or exhausters, as Ord-Hume
would have it), reservoirs, expression boxes and so forth?

2)  The (noun referred to in question 1) board in my Karn Solodant
player is kaput.  It's made of lumber-core plywood (a 3-ply sandwich of
thick veneer -- about 1/8-inch or so -- and a core of solid lumber
boards, each approx 1/2" x 3-1/2") and is probably maple.  A bunch of
the core boards have shrunk considerably with age, causing the whole
mess to delaminate in spots.  Repair is out of the question, so my
query is what's a good trade-off between 'authentic materials' and
currently available materials?  I'm inclined to use regular 3/4" thick
5-ply or 7-ply Birch plywood, since it's readily available,
inexpensive, and probably better for the job than the original
materials.  Sorry for belaboring this bit of boring minutae, but I want
to do this job _right_.  Comments?

3)  While on the topic of "authentic materials", does any one know of a
source of supply for nickel-plated slot head screws?  I refuse to use
any zinc-plated stuff since there's no point having fasteners that will
look like crap in a mere 25 years down the road.  Brass screws would be
appropriate in some cases but I think they'd be incongruous against
nickel-plated parts.  A local fastener supply house will supply me with
nickel-plated steel screws, but since this is a special-order item the
set-up charge would be something like $160 !  HELP!!

4)  Years ago, some meathead monkeyed with the Solodant expression
boxes.  There is a chamber which is open to atmosphere (this I infer
from examining the 'logic' of the valves -- the expression system
wouldn't make any sense otherwise) but the original port was monkeyed
with.  The original hole is about 3/8" dia with some traces of glue
still present, so _something_ was there originally.  The aforementioned
meathead removed this _something_ and replaced it with a piece of tape
from a first-aid kit, with a hole poked in it.  (This didn't work,
evidently, as the meathead then covered the hole up with another
(unpoked) piece of tape.)  Seems to me that the original _something_ in
the hole was either a brass filter screen or a large bleed.  Anybody
have any insight on this?

Thanks for whatever help you can give.

Colin Hinz