pinblocks and materials

[gordon stelter]

Hi Mark, I too am interested in the replacement of
traditional piano materials with new ones. But, in the
past, manufacturers who did this were usually aiming
for CHEAP, not enhanced performance. So when their
substitutions caused preoblems a backlash against all
innovative material substitution ensued. And that's
where we are today, basically.
     Thump


aused 
--- Mark Kinsler <kinsler33@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Since my training is in electric power, I understand
> the conservatism in 
> piano manufacturing and maintenance.  The history
> of, say, plastics in piano 
> building seems to have been one of unmitigated
> disaster.
> 
> I'm fascinated with how well the wooden action parts
> function.  There's 
> really no better material for these.  And the
> felt/polished-steel bearing 
> surfaces in the action are equally interesting to a
> fan of mechanisms and 
> materials.  No lubricant needed, a bit of
> flexibility added to the works, 
> nothing much to maintain.  Marvelous.
> 
> But I really wonder if the pinblock couldn't use
> some better engineering.  
> The traditional laminated pinblocks are marvels of
> craftsmanship, but my 
> reading of Reblitz' text makes it sound like they're
> an eternal cause of 
> grief.  Have other schemes been tried?  I'm thinking
> of a brass block with 
> tapered steel pins held tight by nuts underneath the
> block.  Or a cast-iron 
> pinblock with brass bushings and the tapered pins. 
> I'm sure that this has 
> been thought of many times.  What were the problems?
>  Were there ever plates 
> that had an integrated iron pinblock cast into them?
> 
> Mr Bullock's analysis of the failure of felt also
> led me to wonder if 
> synthetic felts have ever been used for hammers or
> bearings.  I believe that 
> there are nylon and dacron felts.  There's no great
> guarantee that these 
> would be vastly more stable over sixty years or so
> than traditional wool 
> felts, but perhaps they have been tried.
> 
> M Kinsler
> 
>
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