DEAR LIST: I was reading with interest the "broken tuning pin removal" thread when I saw advice with my name on it being given to the fellow who has the pin problem. namely; <<consider reducing the pin torque with heat... the tip of a punch to red hot..press it onto the tip of the pin...etc.>> Now the problem with this advice is that, considering his problem, I would not do this,- at least not at first. The particular post that quoted my "heat advice" was in response to a discussion about drilling from the back of the piano up to the pin and then punching it out the back. I thought that this method was almost impossible to do well, and overkill, and the heat advice was a considerable step down from that. With the current problem, the heat advice is probably more drastic than one needs. MY APPROACH to his problem would be to: 1 - try a normal tuning pin extractor No go? - then; 2 - square the tip with a dremel type grinder and back the pin out with a tuning hammer. No go? - then; 3 - Drill a very small pilot hole, less than a 1/16", which makes it easy to stay in the dead center of the pin,then progressively enlarge the hole with numbered drills until a normal automotive extractor or straight extractor reamer ( not tapered) can be used to back the pin out. ONLY if these methods didn't work would I start to use heat. SO - PLEASE! - Do not go quoting me here and there unless my previous advice is absolutely brilliantly perfect for the situation involved. In fact, - don't quote me at all! - I won't sue for copyright infringement! Honest! Just attribute such things to "anonymous" - the perfect scapegoat. I am sending this off, then going back to read the rest of the posts, in which I expect my "advice" will be ripped apart, and rightfully so. No harm done at this end! - I just hope the poor sot didn't burn up his pinblock! Sincerely, Bill Simon Phoenix
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