Pinblock? WHAT pinblock?

[Nichols]

Recently had one, named "Lyric", where the pins were iffy, and we didn't 
want to risk it. A trip to the machine shop for screw holes, larger pin 
holes in the webbing, and a rather major grinding of the underside of the 
webbing (reduced by 3/8 ths) allowed for standard 1 3/8 block installation. 
The flange line was good, and the rim looked like it was built to be 
ambi-social. Worked great. No worries.

Guy Nichols, RPT



At 07:38 PM 4/10/02 -0400, you wrote:
>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
>
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