Have you tried using an impact tuning hammer? I have several of these Boston UP118s in my customer base and yes, some of them are bears for the same reasons you had mentioned. The ones that have given me the most trouble all have one thing in common -- the tuning pins are not driven into the block far enough. I've come to some that have had as much as a quarter-inch, perhaps more space between the underside of the coils and the plate. I contacted Steinway about this, and their advice was to tilt the piano and drive the pins in further. Now ... does anybody have a way of sweet-talking the customers into letting the technician do precisely this in their homes on their brand-new pianos? Z! Reinhardt RPT Ann Arbor MI diskladame@provide.net ---------- From: Robert Goodale <rrg@nevada.edu> To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Boston Beans Date: Tuesday, July 27, 1999 7:30 PM >>snip<< My specific peeve at present is the UP118S and the family of pianos included in this design. The tuning pins flagpole all over the place. The slightest touch and the hyperactive things change the pitch. Taping the strings to the bridges helps to a slight degree but it is not a cure. I believe the problem exists in pressure bar design or in the pins themselves. This is not unlike many Steinway uprights. I could be politically correct about it, (watch it boys, Steinway is listening), but I think we all have experienced these damn things. So... I would be interested in hearing any techniques that some folks out there might have come up with to deal with these. Please, help me regain my sanity!! Rob Goodale, RPT University Nevada, Las Vegas
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