Broken Tuning Pins

[Carl Root]

Why do tuning pins break?  In my experience there are two reasons and
both are due to technician error.  

1)  Although some new US pianos occassionally come through the factory
with very tight pins, it's the pianos that come out of the shop that are
often the culprits.  In somecases, It's the wrong size bit in a
Delignit-tye block or the use of oversize pins in an old but otherwise
sound block.  When the 'crack' and 'bang' of the pin breaking free is as
loud as the test note, you've got a candidate for a broken pin.

2)  But perhaps a more important cause is a poor tuning tip-to-pin fit. 
(Maybe breaking a pin is a right of passage, just like snapping off note
'88' as you pull a grand action.  Maybe we should scrap the exams and
let you into PTG only if you can document those two events :-).  ) 
Anyway, the best way to snap off the top of a tuning pin is to contact
the pin at the top rather than uniformly along the side of the pin down
to the becket.  Make sure your tuning tip is firmly seated the full
length of the top of the pin before applying torque.

I think it's fair to say that there is one right way to remove a broken
pin and that any other  removal method should not be considered until
the 'right way' has been tried.  The extractor tip, with reverse
threads, used with a T-hammer as Newton suggests, is the correct way. 
Get out your torches and drill bits only when this method fails.

Carl Root, RPT