Hi all.  I enjoyed Andy Taylor's advice to Damon and will try the
heating method of removing pneumatics.  I think that John Tuttle also
recommends it.

I agree that the wholesale replacement of the glued pneumatic boards is
no big deal.  It is sometimes necessary anyway even with the sharpened
putty knife method.  If the glued boards are thin and old, they fre-
quently break, and so replacement is in this case even desirable.
I get new wood and cut and  drill a complete set.

Andy mentioned avoiding Simplex at first, and especially Durrell
Armstrong's associated advice.  Can Andy please elaborate?

By chance my very first full restoration was a Simplex, and although
I took great care and followed the Reblitz instructions to the letter,
I felt at the end that the stack could have been more responsive.
I replaced all valve facings and scrupulously copied the previous cloth
and leather dimensions and thicknesses.  I also renewed the 88 cork
gaskets and was careful to seal everything as tightly as I could.  Yet
at the end the instrument still requires fairly energetic pumping.
Is this usual?

Roger Waring