Dissembling a P/P Changer

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 2 Oct 2004 12:42 am

How do I dissemble an Emmons P/P changer? I have taken the changers out of the guitar in one piece and I want to clean the individual fingers. I can't see how the axle is attached to the pillow blocks. I'm a little scared to use brute force to separate the axle from the blocks. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Rainer

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Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 2 Oct 2004 4:14 am

Hello Rainer...
you just hold one of the Pillar Blocks in each hand and twist in oposite directions..
Baz

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Steel players do it without fretting

http://www.waikiki-islanders.com

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 2 Oct 2004 12:27 pm

Basil,
you must be a stronger man than I am.

I tried twisting the pillow blocks, but no dice. Soaked the changer in a liter of lighter fluid to de-gum it, but it still won't budge.

I'll get a can of spinach, first thing Monday morning ...

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 4 Oct 2004 3:38 am

Rainer.. this is the mechanism out of the guitar...just twist the left and right end blocks in opposite directions

Basil

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Steel players do it without fretting

http://www.waikiki-islanders.com

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 4 Oct 2004 5:35 am

Basil, I clamped one leg of the pillow blocks in a padded vise, grabbed the other one with a pair of grip pliers and tried to wiggle the axle loose. Nothin' doin'. It couldn't be tighter if it was welded. It's okay, though. I thoroughly de-gummed the changer with lighter luid, wiped all the grime off in the places I could reach and blew it the whole thing out with compressed air. All the fingers move easily and look and feel clean. I also sanded the tops of the fingers with 600 grit wet and polished them on a buffing wheel. I doubt that they were as shiny when they were first installed at the factory.

Thanks for your help!
Rainer

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Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700

Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 4 Oct 2004 6:40 am

Rainer, When I took my 69 Emmons pp apart I was amazed at how much black crud was between the axle and fingers. It was hard to believe it could work at all. Plays pretty nice now.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 4 Oct 2004 8:42 am

PBBlaster, available at AutoZone, etc.
A form of Penetrating oil.
That stuff is amazing. Had a shower handle that would not come off. Years of lime buildup. Sprayed some PBBlaster on it and in 5 minutes could wiggle the handle off.

Allan Todd · Post by **Allan Todd** » 4 Oct 2004 9:22 am

Baz,
you are a gent, as usual and a great asset to the SGF, hope to meet up with you soon,
please keep up the input,
Allan.

Mark Herrick · Post by **Mark Herrick** » 4 Oct 2004 11:49 am

After soaking for a while in some kind of penetrating agent, the stuff Ray mentioned or Liquid Wrench, etc., you could also try whacking (more like strong tapping, actually) the pillow blocks with a hard plastic mallet to try to loosen the crud that's got the axle frozen in there.

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Glenn Austin · Post by **Glenn Austin** » 5 Oct 2004 7:38 am

Those pillar blocks are put on the axle with a hydralic press, like ball joints on a car are put on. If I were you I would just soak the whole assembly in thinner or get it ultrasonically cleaned in one piece.

Rainer Hackstaette · Post by **Rainer Hackstaette** » 10 Oct 2004 12:46 pm

Thanks, everybody, for your help. I was finally able to remove the axle using a vise and a wrench. Everything is clean now and back together. Now I only have to reassemble the rest of the guitar. A piece of cake after this adventure!

Without the advice from you all and half a dozen emails I wouldn't have tried it.

Thanks again,
Rainer

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Remington D-10 8+7, Sierra Crown D-10 gearless 8+8, Sierra Session S-14 gearless 8+5, '77 Emmons D-10 8+4, '70 Emmons D-10 8+4, '69 Emmons S-10 6+5, Fender Artist D-10 8+4, Peavey Session 400 LTD, Peavey Vegas 400, Line 6 Variax 700