> I hope this question has not been posed before. If so please direct
>me to where! I encountered a Steinway L, serial #474??? (circa 1981) that
>has a few loose tuning pins in the bass.
>
> What makes these pins special, is that they are near the plate
>screws that hold the pinblock to the plate.
Carol,
I, too, have encountered this precise problem in several Steinways and
other brands as well. In each case all the pins in relatively new pianos
(less than ten years) were fine except for those pins located in close
proximaty to the long hex head plate bolts along the front of the plate
(for instance..A0, E2{right string} and F2 {left string}...these in a model
D.
I think you are right in your assesment that the soap or whatever
lubricant was used to facilitate turning in the bolts has leached through
that short distance to the pin hole and contaminated the pin.
The first time I encountered such a condition as in a Kawai grand YEARS
ago. I phoned the tech rep (Ray Chandler??) and he advised pulling the pin
,swabbing the hole with a high quality 5-minute epoxy and driving the
pinwhile the epoxy was still wet.
It worked.
As I said, this was at least 10 years ago and the pin is still holding
admirably and reliably.
It could be a crack caused by that big bolt wedging its way in, but I
thinking probably not.
Good Luck
Paul E. Dempsey
Piano Tuner/Technician
Marshall University
Huntington, WV
dempsey@ramlink.net
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