>Yes, I was surprised. Maybe I should email the List (if we still have >electricity!) and let everyone know what the new millenium is like, since we >in NZ will see it first! Don't do that! If you forget, you'll trigger a panic. <G> >That is the only remedy I know of, but I was hoping for some wisdom from the >List. Our old buddy Vince put Protek in a snappy pin block and reported that it smoothed right out without noticeably reducing pin torque. That probably wouldn't work here, and I wouldn't be brave enough to try it in a piano anyway. Has anyone ever tried the equivalent of shrinking action centers on pinblocks? A little alcohol and water dribbled into the block, like you were doping it, should swell the wood enough to induce a little permanent compression set so that when the block finally dried out, the pins would be looser... and possibly rusty. I'm not condoning this, and haven't tried it, but since reasonable assembly techniques seem to be so elusive for some manufacturers, there ought to be some sort of quick and dirty improvement possible, just to give the field tech a fighting chance. It's about time we found one. Everybody go out in the shop and try something outrageous on a pinblock scrap with some too tight pins installed and report back in a week or two. One of us may stumble upon something truly dangerous and/or wonderful. I think it's worth a try. Hey, it beats spending time with stuffed relatives this weekend, doesn't it? Ron N
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