Upright PIANO WITH NO PINBLOCK!!!???

[Warren Fisher]

John,
I once restrung an upright with no pinblock.  When I removed the string 
pressure, the pin, string and all popped out of the plate and dropped 
into the key bed along with my jaw!!  This one had a "V" in the bottom 
of the pin hole that the pin wedged into as the string pressure 
increased.  Not bad to tune, but as you would figure,  springing the pin 
was out.  The pitch would go down a bunch.  The  pins were shorter than 
normal and flat on the end.  They rested against the wood block that 
would have been the pinblock in a regular piano. Stringing it was really 
fun. I felt like a one-armed "paper-hanger"
Warren


John Gunderson wrote:

> 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>

-- 
Warren Fisher- RPT Retired, Navy Retired, Slidell, Louisiana
<fishwarr@netzero.com>(After May 4th)
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