[pianotech] Pinblocks

[Ron Nossaman]

On 11/7/2010 1:03 AM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:
> I put a pinblock of this type in the Baldwin Hamilton back in the mid-1980s.
> (I wanted to put it in the grands as well but was out-voted. It performed
> much better, in my opinion, than the multi-layer granite pinblock Baldwin
> was already infamous for; but what did I know?)

I agree absolutely. The granite never was a suitable choice for a pinblock.


>Anyway, while I was testing
> various pinblock configurations I tossed in one that used the regular 5/8"
> multi-laminate cap (made with 1/16" veneers) with the rest being of
> laminated poplar (1/8" thick, rotary cut). Worked quite nicely.

No doubt. Making the cap a little over half that 5/8" thickness would 
have worked even more nicely, I found.


>We didn't
> use it because we were uncertain how it would age -- it stood up well for a
> year but who knows what would have happened in 30 years -- and because
> marketing was concerned -- probably for good reason -- about the competition
> finding out that Baldwin was using "poplar pinblocks."

Which, I suspect, is the same reason there is so much resistance to the 
"cheap" rotary cut multilam as a substrate. Lacks marketing 
testosterone, though it works very well.

Ron N