[CAUT] Reaming block?

[Ron Nossaman]

> Hey Mark,
> 
> I keep on learning. To wit, what are "reverse-grip" tuning pins and where
> does one find them? And presumably by "reverse direction" you mean with (not
> against) the string pull.
> 
> Thanks for sharing your method.
> 
> Alan

They're cut thread pins, like Denro. Salesmen who were trying 
to make the other guy's pianos (using these pins) look bad 
would wrap a pin in a silk scarf and show how it would turn 
easily one direction and not in the reverse. The pitch was 
that these evil pins had *teeth* that would tear up the block 
in the competitor's product. The guys who's pianos had these 
pins used the same demo, illustrating how these pins resisted 
turning backward, and would therefor hold a tuning longer 
without "slipping".  Neither happened in actual pianos, of 
course, and the *teeth* were just an incidental artifact of 
the thread cutting. They weren't planned at all, but just came 
with the process.

Is it even possible to buy pressed or rolled thread pins any 
more? The last I saw were from APSCO, I think, long ago. 
Guaranteed to snap and jump in pretty much any block, mic'd 
out of round, tapered, reverse tapered, and an interesting 
variety of diameters in every box. Wonderful things. I think 
maybe Kimball used pressed thread pins too.

In any case, it's cut threads for me.
Ron N