I had once attempted to tune a horrible old upright. The owner had been so diligent in "cleaning" it that he had not only taken out all the keys and "washed" them on his driveway with, I think, a bucket of soapy water, but had sprayed furniture polish across the tuning pins and "cleaned" around them, too. This piano had one of those cut-away plates so the wood was exposed behind the pins, and I guess he wanted it to look good in there! (As I recall -- altho I HAVE tried to forget -- the piano had been antiqued, so I don't understand what he was thinking.) The pins acted just as you said. I did the best I could and gave the piano its last rites. Luckily, he's never called me back. Barb Barasa Sycamore IL >The entire piano had jumpy, sort of loose, tuning pins. Some were worse >than others, but they would all hold. There were a few that, when bumped >backwards, would go all the way down. But when I brought them back up, they >held. > The only other time I've seen pins that jumpy was after some "tooner" in >West Texas had sprayed WD-40 on the pins and coils to clean off the rust!! > Except for, possibly, the salt water humidity or block problems, I have >no other ideas. IMHO, the piano isn't worth trying to do anything to. I >explained the problem to the customer and advised them to start thinking >about getting another piano in the near future. >________________ >Avery Todd, RPT >Moores School of Music >University of Houston >Houston, TX 77204-4893 >713-743-3226 >atodd@uh.edu >________________ > >
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