----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Stuchell" <jstuchell@usachoice.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 7:22 PM Subject: Fw: installing new treble wire on a spinet ----- Original Message ----- From: Jonathan Stuchell To: pianotech@ptg.org Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 9:16 PM Subject: installing new treble wire on a spinet I am a novice and need advice on how to coil treble wire around the tuning pin. I am attempting to install a new treble wire on two pins. When I turn the pin clockwise with the tuning hammer the wire will not wind around to set the coils. Any help would be appreciated . Thank you. Back the pin out a turn and a half. Thread the wire under the pressure bar, then make a 1/4" or 5/16" bend at the end of the wire. Or just stick the wire into the pin and make the bend as you start turning the pin. With the thinner gauges, it may not stay in the pin. But if you pre-wind your coils with a coil-winding jig [Schaff item #109, p. 46, in conjunction with a tuning pin loosely driven into a small chunk of hardwood], they usually stay in a little better. I usually poke the bend (becket) into the hole in the pin, squeeze it in with the needle nose, give the pin a quarter turn, squeeze the becket in again, give it another quarter or half turn, and squeeze the becket again. After routing the wire thru the bridge pins, bringing up to pitch, and lifting coils so they're all tight together, I'll give the becket a final squeeze. If you made the bend too long, it may not squeeze in all the way unless you tap the coils down to clear the hole so the end of the wire can poke out a little (but it really should've been cut a bit shorter). Coil winders really help, but you have to remember to thread strings thru agraffes first on grands, and in some uprights you have to thread the wire under the pressure bar first if the string loop straddles a pressure bar screw. Otherwise, you can pre-cut to length, make the hitch-pin bend, pre-wind your two and a half coils, pluck the becket out of the jig's tuning pin, then insert the hitch-pin bend under the pressure bar from the top, grab it with a stringing hook, and pull it through. I go ahead and put the coils on the pins without poking the becket into the hole yet, then I pull the hitch-pin bend down with the stringing hook until I can get it onto the hitch-pin. Then clip a hemostat or vise grips or little clamp onto the hitch- pin to keep it from coming off while you fiddle with the tuning pin coils (not always necessary). Takes longer to write than to demonstrate. Just takes practice, so break lots of strings! (just kidding) --David Nereson, RPT
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