coils/pins

[Brian Trout]

Hi Jim,

I'm not the expert here, but I'll put my two cents in. :-)

Jim wrote;
1)  Should the wire stick out of the becket at all or be flush with the
pin?  I notice daily that many quality pianos have the strings coming
out of the beckets and this was done in the factory.  If this practice
is wrong and the string should be flush in the tuning pin, then why do
so many piano companies do this?


Well, I'm learning that the ideal place for the end of that wire is flush
with the side of the pin.  Not in a little, not out a little.  If it doesn't
go the whole way through the tuning pin, it has a greater chance of
slipping, and causing decreased tuning stability.  If it sticks out too far,
it interferes with the natural seating of the coil around the pin.  I
suspect that from a manufacturing standpoint, It's much easier to make it
stick out, a little or a lot.  Heck, Baldwin actually lets it stick out an
eighth of an inch and bends it over.  (Incidentally, I DON'T like that at
all...)


Jim wrote:
2) I was taught to make sure all the pins are at the same height ...Is there
a better way to do this?


Jim Bryant wrote this in a recent e-mail to the list.  I think he's got a
pretty good handle on this.  If you don't have the post to go back and read,
let me know, I can e-mail it to you.
........downbearing first, then
come coil level above plate, number of turns in coil, and last, pinlevel,
(becket orientation doesn't figure into this)........ in that order.  As
each
effects the others if each step is handled in the same manner the overall
results will be consistent even if the note to note, or pin to pin, or
becket
to becket,  results aren't.

Jim wrote:
3)  If the bottom of the coil to the plate is more important then the
height, then how do you set this with each pin?  Is there another type
of jig available? It looks kind of odd to see tuning pins at different
heights for the sake of preserving the coil to plate height.  Reblitz
says it should be about 3/l6" when the strings are up the pitch. Do most
of you agree on this 3/l6" figure?


Some pianos will be better than others.  Some may come out with all of the
most important things coming out nearly perfect.  Those are very rewarding
jobs.  But on a lot of 'em, you'll likely need to compromise a little in
making pins slope from front to back, or side to side, or both in order to
maintain a proper bearing & coil height.  I'm not sure I'd like to use a set
in stone figure for coil height.  It may vary from piano to piano, or even
from section to section of the same piano.  Personally, I don't do a lot of
"measuring" in terms of getting out the little metal rule.  It's pretty easy
for me to visualize most of this stuff, but I'd be curious how others do it.
Perhaps I can improve on this one too.

Jim wrote:
4)  Someone suggested using only two coils on the single bass pins
instead of three.  Is this a technique most technicians agree upon?


I personally don't have a problem with only two coils on the single bass
strings.  If you leave the full three coils on the pin, and you want to
maintain a proper bearing/coil height, that pin really sticks up in the air!
(Might be an issure if increased flagpoling here too, hmmm.) Of course, if
you've been doing it all the way down through the bass section,  it'll be a
gradual slope, and won't ordinarilly stand out unless you're looking for it.
I've done it both ways, and I tend to like using less coil on those single
wounds.  Is there a technique that most technicians aggree upon?  Now that's
a good question!  :-)

Hope I've not done more harm than good.

Just my two cents.

Best wishes,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, Pa.