Whereas your conclusions may be accurate, a slight "snap" upon initial turning does not necessarily mean "jumpy". I've certainly tuned many a piano with pins that give a slight "snap" or click when they move, yet they are not jumpy and the tuning is very easy. You tried two holes with a different tuning pin in each hole - likely slightly different sized tuning pins and threads that are cut differently. Of course the pins are going to feel a bit different - they are. IMHO, it is not a valid conclusion that slightly out-of-round tuning pins equate to jumpy tuning pins based on what you've shared. FWIW, I know that I've pounded many an unround tuning pin into new pinblocks with excellent results - nice smooth feeling pins. Terry Farrell On Sep 28, 2010, at 11:42 PM, Roger Gable wrote: > I just drilled 2 holes in a sample pinblock stock. I drove a tuning > pin in one hole with the Denro ( I think) which did not measure > perfectly round, and the other with a Diamond. The Diamond turned > smooth the Denro did not. There was a slight "snap" upon initial > turning with the Denro. The snap was not enough to inhibit tuning, > but demonstrated that a oval pin "jumps" around the hole. Why? My > only guess is that the high point is pushing wood fibers outward, > and this outward tension builds up and then releases. This is new > pinblock stock and the conditions are as favorable as you could > expect for a test such as this, but imagine what the possibilities > would be on an uneven used block; a higher likelihood that the > jumping could be intolerable. I switched to the higher priced pins a > few years ago, simply as an experiment and found that I no longer > experienced jumpy pins after "fighting" this anomaly for 30 years. > As for the benefits of a set of uneven pins yielding a few larger > pins to be used in the base area. Fine. Go ahead and measure all the > pins. I simply purchase an oversize set and use them in the base > area if needed. > Roger Gable > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman at cox.net> > To: <pianotech at ptg.org> > Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 7:52 PM > Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pins > > >> On 9/28/2010 4:09 PM, Terry Farrell wrote: >>> I don't remember what brand, but I have also noted new tuning pins >>> that >>> are not round. But how do you conclude that slight imperfections in >>> roundness contribute to pin jumpiness? >> >> Thank you, that someone (anyone) besides me asked. >> Ron N >
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