Loose pinblock

[jpiesik@arinc.com]

     Bill & Pat,

     It sounds to me like driving down the tuning pins will only gain you a
     few more years, at best. But how are those treble pins? (They are
     giving you a clue as to how the rest of the undriven pins will react.)
     Dope would be the last thing I would use - as a matter of fact, I
     never use it.

     Try to convince your client to rebuild - in the long run they will be
     that much more satisfied with their sentimental piano.

     If there are only a few untunable pins, I suggest replacing the pins
     with a larger size tuning pin. Tuning pin shims, epoxy, CA glue, etc.
     may work for some, but a larger tuning pin is the cleanest, quickest,
     most effective and direct way to go for only a few loose pins. Be sure
     to support the pinblock if it is a grand before you drive any pins
     down.

     And remember, anything you do to that pinblock now, may make it
     unusable in the future if a rebuild is ultimately decided upon (in
     other words, if you dope or epoxy it now, it may require a new
     pinblock when/if it's ever rebuilt).

     Good Luck,

     John Piesik, RPT
     Carlsbad, CA



I tuned a piano recently that had loose tuning pins. In the upper treble I
noticed someone had "banged" the tuning pins further into the pinblock.
Should the same be done to the remainder of the piano.  This piano has
sentimental value to the customer and are willing to try anything.
I also tried to set a few bass tuning pins into the pinblock.  They went in
awfully easy.  Is pin dope an option?
Would it be beneficial to just trying setting the pins deeper into the
pinblock and then dope it up?  Any suggestions would be helpful.  Thanks