Hello Don - Yes, you'r right. In fact the tuning (or wrest) pin was split at the end and a wedge driven into that split so that when you bonked it further into the wrest-plank it expanded and so got tighter. Those Victorians knew a thing or three. The older Brinsmead Grands are a case in point. Heaven help you if you break a pin though...! I use such a tuning hammer on any grand I have to tune and find I derive a better and finer tuning thereby. I sometimes actually use the "hammer" part for its original purpose - but always in conjunction with a wrest pin punch. I also find another use for the "T" hammer - in upright pianos for taking out wrest pins. It is much faster! One thing I would like to get to the bottom of in the correspondence lately is the use of a "dummy pin" What on earth is a "Dummy Pin" , and as for "beckets" I use a pair of strong duck-billed pliers to sinch these flat to the wrest pin. Never found any problems thereafter. Oh yes - don't fergit to use the tensioning roller on the metals and give a hefty pull on the covereds to pre-stretch them. Though I guess this is Teaching the Grandmother Syndrome. Michael G
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