Broken tuning pin removal

[Elian Degen]

Ted.

I had a similar problem once, I rememberd that pianos in dry season loosen
up a little, so I took the action out, I put inside three 25W Dampp Chaser
tubes, closed the piano and waited three days, when I got back the pin was
easy enough to get out. Removed the tubes, left it to get back to its
ambient humidity. This is to be used in conjunction whith any other
extraction method, but I think it safer than using a torch, mine was a baby
grand, for spinet maybe you will need some more heat.

: Richard Snelson wrote:
I would try something else before heating the pin! Cold not heat! Heat
>expands metal and will make it thighter. Cold does just the opposite and
>may give you enough play to allow vice grips to turn the pin. How to get
>the cold? A small block of dry ice should do just fine. Protect your
>hands and hold it around the pin. At least it won't do any damage to
>anything around or the wood. Good luck. Rich

So maybe you can combine both, dry the wood, cool the pin

Elian



>While tuning a spinet last week a tuning pin broke at the becket hole
>leaving most of the pin exposed.  I thought it would be a simple task to
>turn the pin out of the hole and hammer in a new one, but such was not the
>case.  The tuning pins on this piano are super tight and I couldn't budge
>the broken pin with vise grips.  So I sawed the becket deeper and tried a
>big screwdriver with no success.  Can anyone suggest a tool or a method
>that will get this tuning pin out?
>
>Ted Simmons
>Merritt Island, FL
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