Broken tuning pin---idea?

[Robert Goodale]

Donald Mitchell wrote:
> 
> We also have a practice tuning piano with a broken tuning pin.  It is a
> modern Kohler console.  The pins are so tight that the common broken
> tuning pin extractor will strip out before it moves the pin.  There is
> about one quarter of an inch protrudeing from the pinblock.  It is the top
> pin and is in the vally so has pins on both sides of it makeing it
> difficult to get at it.  Any suggestions on how to remove it for
> replacement?



Just an idea- fortunately and perhaps amazingly I have not had to deal
with this problem before inspite of having worked on 1000s of pianos.
Anyway, this idea occured to me as a possibility...


1. With one of those VERY SMALL cutting tips in your Dremel tool,
carefully cut a nice deep slot across the remaining exposed portion of
the pin. This will probably take some time and you may have to go
through 2 or 3 cutters since you will probably dull the snot out of
them.

2. Next, provided the pin is willing to cooporate, you may be able to
get a large screwdriver into the newly created slot and turn it out.

3. One more idea that just occured to me. You may try heating the pin
with the tip of a soldering iron to assist with the loosening. Provided
of course that you are careful not to get the pin overly hot and damage
any of the wood in the block.

Hope this helps. GOOD LUCK!