pin tightner

[Z! Reinhardt]

+  Comments below...  +

----- Original Message -----
From: "Leslie W Bartlett" <lesbart1@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 3:29 PM
Subject: pin tightner


I ran across a Chickering grand today, virtually untuneable. The lady had
spent $3500 on it, after being repeatedly warned NOT to do so.........
Thinking of trying pin tightener on it, as it's pretty much shot anyhow.
What's the drying time on it, and can one use a syringe to apply it
around the pins.?

+ My understanding is that you can use a syringe to apply the stuff.
However, the stuff never dries.  Eventually it loads up with ambient dust
and turns into a black goo.  +

If the pinblock were the only problem, I might steer
towards CA glue,

+  Why not use CA glue in this case?  ... +

but this thing is a total rip-off, by an individual, the
mere mentioning of his name bringing groans and expressions of sadness
for anyone gullible enough to have purchased anything from him.

+  ... Or are you trying to sabotage this piano?  +

thanks
les bartlett
houston

I've come to many pianos where pin tightner had been used, a hefty
percentage of which still had tuning pins too loose to tune.  Now what --
about the only remedy to this is to replace the pinblock.  There is no way
to flush the tighning solution out of there.  (Applying CA glue over
tightner would make a lovely mess indeed, most likely incapable of improving
tuning pin torque.)

Coming to think of it, there have been some posts in the past few months
advocating the use of thick CA glue as a means of sealing pinblock cracks as
well as improving pin torque.

Whatever stuff you use ... PLEASE remove the action and cover the keybed.
I'll leave it to your imagination what may happen should any of these
substances hit the action in strategic places.

Z! Reinhardt  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net