Reply #11: As I look at your diagram, I can see that I may still have a bit

[yy4me]

of a problem.....just went upstairs to measure The pipe is like your second example, The middle of the pipe at the wall to the ceiling is only 3". The outside end then has the shower head attached to it. I looked inside the cupboard and can see at T shaped fitting at the top of the copper pipe that leads to the shower at a right angle. Is that a threaded fitting do you think? If it is soldered, I'm sunk.

If I could not find an arm what would make the 360 turn within the 3 inches, could I get a short pipe with threads on both ends and find a shower head that would tilt downward enough? Is there such a thing?

All this would have to be planned in advance because with no shut-off, I would not be able to turn the water back on.

Ahh, the glories of an old house. The older the house, the more profound the glory. We're talking 200 years here, the plumbing is 40 years old.