Restringing in the home

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Thomas writes: 
>I've been asked to restring a 1972 Hamburg Steinway "B" and a 1921 NY
>Steinway "L" in the customer's home.
 oth have original tuning pins.
>
>Should I go up to a 4/0 pin, or will a 3/0 suffice? How do I make the
>determination?

  How much torque is in the pins?   You can try the top section in 3/0, and 
if that is giving you at least 100 inch lbs.  you may go farther down. If you 
put a tuning hammer on the pins to chip some, you should decide on what kind 
of feel you are getting. 
    You will do well to avoid an overly tight block with oversized pins used 
for "insurance".  This may even call for a reaming and THEN go to 4/0 pins, 
but the mark of a well done job is evenness and sufficiency of torque without 
a lot of jumping pins and hammer-bending stiffness. 

>I assume that damper felts will need to be replaced. Is this true? Cut
>my
>own, or precut from S&S?
>The actions will need regulation; the hammers will need filing and voicing.
 
   How could it be cheaper to do this in the customers own home?  The cartage 
costs shouldn't be as much as the time you are going to spend away from your 
bench, jigs, tools, etc, not to mention the dirt and dust.   I would suggest 
that you make a pitch for doing these in the shop.
Regards, 
Ed Foote