Tightening coils on sloppy restringing

[Tom Cole]

Garold,

Although you are asking about how to efficiently tighten the loose
coils, I think that you need to address why you cannot remove the
action. You may find that there is a relationship between the tuning
pins being loose and incompletely driven in, pins leaning back (toward
the tail?) at 8 degrees, and the bottom surface of the pin block being
too low. If the "rebuilder" drove in the pins without a support
underneath the pin block, that would cause the condition you describe
and the piano now needs to be completely restrung and the pin block
needs to be replaced.

Tom


Garold J. Beyer wrote:
> 
> I recently inspected a Steinway O that had been "rebuilt" a couple of
> years ago in another state. The wire protrudes through the pins about
> !/8"+, pins lean back at 8 degrees (guessing) and the wire spirals
> down the pin, some with 4-5 turns, to end at pretty much plate level.
> If the coils were tight the pins would be a good 1/4" too high. My
> problem; the coil lifting tools I possess are difficult to impossible
> to get in position with access limited by adjacent pins (when I
> restring I tighten coils as I go and put on enough tension to keep
> them in place). Does anyone know if there a tool available that would
> make this easier or have any ideas on how to efficiently tighten these
> coils and tap the pins down to make piano tunable? (The pins that I
> tried are almost too loose so I'm not worried about ending up
> too torqued). This is only the beginning of problems with this piano
> (example-I couldn't get the action out because the hammer flange
> screws were jammed into the lowered pinblock) but if any one has any
> suggestions on improving the coil situation I would appreciate your
> input.
>  
> Garold Beyer 

-- 
Thomas A. Cole, RPT
Santa Cruz, CA
mailto:tcole@cruzio.com