Tightening coils on sloppy restringing

[Paul S. Larudee]

Garold J. Beyer wrote:
> 
> 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?

There's a tool that I picked up from APSCO at a convention that I don't
find in their catalog.  I guess I would call it a coil tightener,
although there is another tool of that name.  It consists of a cutaway
cylinder tip which fits either underneath or on top of a coil.  The tip
is at the end of a shank onto which a sliding weight fits.  The weight
can be struck upwards, against the closed top end of the shank or
downwards like a hammer.  It can therefore tap the coil either up from
the bottom or down from the top.  I have never had much use for it
because I always make perfect coils (snicker), but it sounds ideal for
your situation.  It was cheap, too!

For driving pins without causing the strings to go slack, there is the
tuning pin setter from Schaff, catalog no. 108.  I also use it as a
combination tuning pin crank and punch, and save myself from switching
between those two tools during restringing.  I saw someone at a
convention do the same thing, and had put a 90 degree bend in the handle
to make it more like a crank.  Good idea.

Paul S. Larudee, RPT
Richmond, CA