List, I tuned an interesting piano today, a 30's vintage tiny Wurlitzer grand. When the customer said it had been rebuilt after a fire in the 60's, I reached inside to see if I could feel whether the original block had been replaced. To my astonishment, there was no block! The tuning pins look normal from the top, but are stubby, ending just below the plate webbing. Also, they are slotted on the bottom and each one has a thin steel wedge driven up into the slot. I could not see any bushing of any sort between the tuning pins and plate holes, but if there was anything there, it was very, very thin. The piano actually tuned very well. The feel of the pins during tuning was quite different and unique. Torque was high and surprisingly uniform from pin to pin, but there was no jumpiness at all. When I exerted enough effort to get the pin moving, it would turn slowly and smoothly, a kind of molasses feeling. The act of settling the pin after tuning a string was hardly needed. It worked only within the narrowest of ranges anyway. Does anyone out there have any experience or knowledge of this piano? It was refinished and had some other minor work done in a large piano repair shop in Detroit in the 60's. Did Wurlitzer actually manufacture this as a option at one time, or is this piano experimental? I could not find a serial number anywhere. Dave Foster _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
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