Query back

[pianoman]

Dear Ed, Ron, and others,
	Your suggestion about using a brad point drill is excellent although I'm
sure you don't mean to say you drill the block with the same drill.  I
don't remember where I originally got the brad point punch of the correct
size.  
	The rebuilding shop I first worked for got their blocks from Aeolian and
they were rebuilding everything from Steinways, Mason & Hamlins, and on
down.  I don't recall them having any problems with the Aeolian blocks. 
All their blocks were drilled at the drill press with a tilting base
arrangement for the angle of the drilling to be done.  As I remember there
was a lot of discussion between angles of 7 or 11 degrees.  I don't think
anyone even thought about tilting them in the same plane as the pin to
agraffe angle.  Things were much more primitive back then.  I can remember
them cutting up old soundboards to make shims for repair of the rebuilt
pianos.  Don't know if that was a help or a hindrance.  There was a lot of
covering up the piano under blankets and plastic a couple of weeks before
shimming though.  I can still remember the first time a new fellow around
brushed hot thin hide glue on a soundboard to remove the old finish. 
Everyone was afraid except the fellow.  Within an hour of a heat lamp and a
scraper we were all made believers.
	Does anyone know the thickness of the Steinway plate in the web region
compared to most others.  If there is room, it still sounds like a great
idea to me.  What size and type drill do most of you use to do this?





James Grebe
R.P.T. from St. Louis
pianoman@inlink.com
"I am a better tuner now than  ever  before"

----------
> From: A440A <A440A@aol.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re:  Query
> Date: Thursday, January 01, 1998 1:33 PM
> 
> James writes:
> << I
> 
> used to (it has been since 1986 when I replaced my last block) have a
brad
> 
> point punch to mark the center of the hole through the plate marking the
block
> and then drilling the holes with the drill press.  The last thing I would
do
> before begin stringing would be to insert the bushings and driving them
(the
> pins)  through the into the block. >>
> 
>       Me too!  except that instead of a brad point punch,  I use a 3/8"
drill
> with a bit that is the same diameter as the plate holes, which leaves  a
> shallow dimple in the block.  This allows very accurate drilling of the
holes
> in the drill press.  
>      I have used Falconwood blocks in several of the recording studios
here.
> These are pianos that are often tuned 15-20 times a month, usually
requiring
> every pin to be turned.  After all of these years, I have had three pins
that
> had to be replaced.  They were all in the same spot, on one piano, so I
really
> believe somebody spilled something in there, like valve oil, or who knows
> what....... 
>      With drill bit, feed, and speed, and sorting the pins,   I have put
these
> blocks in at about 120 in/lbs.  and they have stayed there.  I certainly
> didn't want to wrestle a "monster-block" four or five times a week, ( and
I no
> longer tune Baldwin pianos, there are too many easier-to-work-with blocks
out
> there for me to fight them) 
> Regards,
> Ed Foote
>