Amazon behavioral problems

Question
My mother in law gave me her 25 year old amazon problem is that the bird has been biting for years and therefore has had very little contact and was givin to me because I have experience with birds such as Macaws and African Greys. The bird in Question I am trying to train with towel because he bites literallly everytime he is handled but will submiss most times with a NO BITE and finger tap on beak but he has days that he lunges and attacks and I am wondering if this is over my head is he too old to retrain? He has learned only one word as well Hello.
I work with him 4-5 times daily with music therapy taking him out of the cage moving him around to catch outside veiws talking to him as well as teaching him step up which he does well but then bites the towel please can you give me some advise

Answer
I've seen changes made in some of the oldest birds, so don't give up.
 A beak tap is an old standby method, but has largely been proven more of a negative than a helpful motivation.  Birds tend to respond to negatives with negatives.  That tap by you could become a bite by the bird.
 We also don't want a bird to submit, but to bond. We find the most wonderful, healthy relationships are when birds cooperate because they want to please.
 Toweling is something best reserved for last ditch circumstances and needs to be practiced.  Towels coming down from 'over' the bird trigger instinctive fear and defense reactions because if you think about it, it's very much like a predatory bird coming down and scooping it up.

 While all of my in house rescues are macaws, Amazons are probably the next most popularly re-homed birds because of their biting.  Those little beaks can be even worse than a big macaw.

Because of space constraints here, check out step by step taming options I use with incredible success.

Given your experience and patience I think you'll be fine with this - but I really want you to let me know

 www.4AnimalCare.org
(click on the bird tab there)