turning front rail pins....always a no-no?

[Farrell]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Comments below:

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----=20
From: <JIMRPT@aol.com>

> << If you turn them and the next player sits down and feels the =
excessive=20
> friction immediately, and a year later feels the excessive play in the =
key, it=20
> will be you that is labeled the perpetrator of this hack repair job. =
>>
>=20
> et al;
>  Not picking on Terry here but his comments seem to summarize all the=20
> negative comments vis a vis 'turning front rail pins'.
> =20
>  Anybody out there got a 'good' technical reason for not turning pins? =
If=20
> there is a 'good' technical reason for not turning pins.....why aren't =
frontrail=20
> pins round rather than ovoid?

Not having invented them, I don't know what the intended purpose was, =
but the effect is that the oval pin presents an arc surface to the =
bushing of a much larger pin (couple inches in diameter?) - thus =
resulting in more contact surface and less wear.
=20
>  Can turning front rail pins be over done?....of course it can...just =
like=20
> anything else we do and there are those who over do everything and =
wonder why=20
> they have problems.......
>=20
>  Turning front rail pins, within judicial limits, is just as viable an =

> adjustment as say tweaking a back check or a damper or tilting a =
balance rail pin,=20
> etc., etc.

IMHO, not the same. A back check or a damper has a wire because =
positioning needs to be adjusted upon installation. That wire is meant =
to be bent to make things work properly. With a properly fit set of key =
bushings and a good mortise the front rail pins do not need to turned to =
adjust bushing play/friction (the bushings should be sized in some =
manner, preferably by ironing).
=20
>  If our only 'competent' answer to loose front rail bushing is to =
replace=20
> them then we need to rethink our definition of 'competency'.

Agreed. Turning the pins is a viable alternative as a stop-gap technique =
on lesser pianos - or as Conrad H. indicated, on a good piano where down =
time is not tolerable and the bushings are scheduled for replacement in =
a month or two. But the original post was about a 20-year-old 7-foot =
Baldwin grand - maybe not piano utopia, but certainly potentially a real =
piano - and I was simply stating what I would say to owner.

And thanks for your view!=20

Stay warm Jim - the forcast is for mid-30s the next few nights - I =
wonder if others around the country have it so rough & tough? It's going =
to be so cold that I might have to put on a sweat shirt or something =
when I go bike riding Saturday morning....... no tank-top in THAT kind =
of horrific weather!

> Just my view.
> Jim Bryant (FL)
---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/f6/0f/fa/79/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--