The 6581 i salvaged was NOT socketed in the computer, i had to do serious surgery to remove! Most of the other chips were in sockets-
Is this tipical?
nope, both of the 8580 chips i have where socketed..
I have only seen socketed SIDs, both 6581 and 8580. This means about seven machines. Then, I have seen only socketed roms, all other chips have always been soldered to motherboards. Weird… 
i got about 7 SIDs and all were socketed
Just my luck-
Not much fun removing one from the board with out a socket-
I cut it out closely with a Dremel tool, then solder wick - ended up having to repair 4 pins- grrrr
NO socket.. 6581
I used a solder sucker pump ($5) on each pin and then wiggled it to see which were still sticking. Sometimes you have to add a bit more solder to a joint to make a big enough glob to get good suction. It was a PITA, but its out and pretty clean, I hope it didnt get too hot, we’ll see when(ever) I get this thing together!
The only C64 Ive ever opened and its soldered in! Just my DIY luck. .
~Steve
4 8580’s and 3 6581’s and one of the 6581’s (the oldest, manf. # 4882) was socketed.
I took great care, practiced on a few socketed chips on a broken commodore 16, ended up only using patience and a solder pump (the aluminum spring loaded kind) to make sure each leg was free of its hole on the underside before attempting to pull it out. I had no solder braid either, never used it actually.
nnn