That's right, I have a customer with a 1930 Wurlitzer baby grand serial # 104791. She told me tuners have complained how hard it is to tune and that one of the tuners told her it has no pin block. When I checked, to my surprise, there was no pin block. The plate was drilled to fit the tuning pins snuggly and the pins where driven directly into the plate. On the top side, the pins look just like any other grand piano but underneath they extend out of the plate about 3/8ths of an inch, they are split and little steel wedges are driving into each pin to spread the pin tight inside the hole. I have pictures in jpeg format if anyone is interested in seeing this system, just e-mail me and I'll be happy to send them out to you. The fact is that the piano holds tune exceptionally well (73 years and still holding strong). I would say the piano is not so much difficult to tune, it's just a different feel, quite unlike a wooden block. I'd be interested if anyone has any information about this tuning pin system.
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