Loose tuning pins

[Andrew & Rebeca Anderson]

Yup,
We had that discussion a while back, about pulling a grand action and 
putting newspaper down when you dope the pins.  I didn't get to learn this 
one the hard way like my teacher did.

Andrew
Las Cruces, NM

At 05:13 PM 12/2/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello list,
>    Recently, I have worked on two pianos that had loose tuning pins and I
>did a little testing to find the best solution to the problem.
>    The first piano was a Yamaha G3 grand. I brought along a lot of size 3/0
>and 4/0 pins thinking I was going to replace the 2/0 originals and make fast
>work out of it. Well, as it turned out, the originals were 1/0, 2 3/8inch
>pins, and the only 2/0 pins I had were 2 1/2inch.
>    I made a fast tuning of the piano and marked all the loose pins. Then I
>started shimming them with sandpaper. That works real well and the original
>pins are used so they don't look different than the rest. I tried using one
>of the 2/0 pins, but to get it in far enough, I had to drive it into virgin
>pin block and it ended up way too tight.
>    Then I tried the controversial CA glue. Since this Yamaha had collars, I
>took the pins out for treatment. I ran CA downt the side of the pin, then
>drove it back in. It wasn't any tighter than it was in the first place, but
>when I came back to it later on when I fine tuned the piano, it was very
>tight. It had a different feel to it than the shimmed pin, though.
>    So, with this piano, I deduced that the shimmed pin was the better
>repair, but CA was much faster.
>    The second piano was a Baldwin Acoustic grand. This tuning was for a
>concert. There were only 4 or 5 pins that needed to be tightened so I used
>CA and let it soak in. I finished tuning and did my checks. I even played
>the piano for a little while, because the only time I get to play on a grand
>piano is when I tune one.
>    A few hours later I get a frantic call from the pianist telling me the E
>above middle C is sticking. I couldn't believe it, as I had just played the
>piano and it was in good shape.
>    I didn't have to rush back to the piano, as the concert was not for two
>days, but I went back early the next morning. Sure enough, the E was not
>only sticking, it was really stuck. It would not depress. I had to pull the
>action to find the cause. One lousy drop of CA had made its way down the
>side of one of those pins and dropped in the action, gluing one hammer very
>securely to the rail. So, let it be known that somehow, the CA glue can make
>its way all the way through the pin block and drop down hours later to cause
>problems. It sure fixes tight pins, though, so I'll continue to use it,
>maybe not so generously, though. Just a few observations.
>
>Richard
>
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