A Hitch in a hitchpin

[A440A@aol.com]

Greetings, 
   I am faced with an interesting, uncommon, repair.  On a 3 year old, 
high-end piano, a hitch pin has slowly straightened up.  This explains why both 
myself and the dealer's technician were called back to retune a seriously out of 
tune Eb 55.  It was always the two right strings, and on my call back, I 
noticed that the hitch pin on that one note was standing nearly vertical.  It makes 
me think that it is the culprit here.  
  Factory advises that the plate is drilled through, so tapping a broken off 
piece downward is their recommended procedure, if the pin cannot be simply 
pulled out from above.  The hole is drilled straight down, and the pins are bent 
backwards.  I am envisioning what it would take to most carefully pull a 
damaged pin out of the plate.  I have thought about a small pair of vice grips with 
a notch ground into the front of their jaws, so that the prongs of a prybar 
or claws of a hammer will fit into, and at least align the beginning pull 
directly over the center of the hole.  
   I have done this in the shop, but never in a piano that is strung.  I'll 
have to make a guess as to how much clearance I have 'twixt plate and board.  I 
have visions of driving the bottom of the pin into a soundboard and 
splintering a rib, while chipping huge chunks out of the plate finish around the pin. I 
imagine the whine of the dremel tool signaling total collapse into the valley 
of broken dreams and plates.
   Any experience out there?  I HATE it when I reinvent the wheel, so if 
anybody has a tried and true approach here, I would certainly like to hear it.  
Thanks,    
Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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