How loose is loose?

[David Graham]

I borrowed a torque wrench from Richard Anderson the other day to
check a sample of the tuning pin torque in some of the Steinways here at
NIU that have been having tuning problems lately. These pianos are all
1973 models, with original pins.Humidity in the building is a bit low right
now, but I would guess it to be around 30% (low for this time of year).
The average reading was in the 30-40 inch pound range. I did find a low
reading in a D (Eb1)  of 5 inch pounds, but the rest of the pins were
around 30 inch pounds. I would be interested in hearing reactions to
these numbers.  All of these pianos need either restringing or rebuilding
because of string/capo/(and now bridge top!) problems. With such
irregular torque, should the pin holes be reamed before repinning? How
high will the torque be after increasing the pin size? Given the realities of
the University budget, at least most of these pianos will have to be
restrung by me if anything is to be done. These are good pianos that I
aam not going to trade away. Therefore I'm looking for recommendations
on how to proceed. Thanks for any input. BTW, we have 42 Steinways,
40 of them in the condition I described.
David Graham
dgraham@niu.edu