In response to the question about swabbing a pinblock hole with epoxy, I can offer a couple suggestions. Epoxy formulas vary widely, of course. The 5 minute epoxies tend to be quite rubbery and will have more tack on a sliding surface. They also cannot easily be faired with sandpaper for the same reason. The thin tapered edge with tend to grab the sandpaper and peel up. The addition of fairing microballons will help for this problem. Slow setting epoxies tend to cure harder and are less likely to bind. Even better for the pinblock application is filled epoxy such as JB Weld or Marine tex black or other epoxy steels. I have used JB Weld to fill several tuning pin holes where the pins could slop around in the hole and could be taken in and out. They were so sloppy that I had to prop the pin to the correct angle while the epoxy cured for 24 hours. I waxed the pin with paste wax to prevent it from being locked solid by the epoxy. They tuned like a new pin in a good block. The key is to have a hard epoxy that the pin will not grab due to excessive static friction. This is also why CA glue works as well as it does. It gets very rigid when it hardens and does not have the tendency to have a lot of static friction and grab and release the pin as it is moved. Has anyone tried any of the pinblock treatments for pins that are jumpy. I have considered this but not tried it. Even CA glue might work. It seems counter-intuitive to add CA glue to a jumpy pin but it might give the soft epoxy or even just tight wood a hard surface that would then slide more smoothly. Just a thought. Doug Gregg Classic Piano Doc
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