[CAUT] pin block strangeness

[Greg Newell]

David,
         How could this possibly make a difference? Didn't the original 
post say that the piano was found to be SHARP? How could the pin block / 
plate flange fit cause the piano to go sharp? I'm not even sure that I 
would agree to it being possible for it to go flat but definitely not sharp!

Greg Newell

At 10:42 AM 3/14/2005, you wrote:
>If the piano has tuning pin bushings it probably doesn't matter about
>the flange fit unless the plate is rocking.  If you want to secure it
>without turning the piano upside down and pouring epoxy in, you can cut
>a bunch of thin wedges out of scrap pinblock material or maple or
>anything hard really.  Try and cut them with only the slightest taper
>and with the thinner edge just slightly under the gap size.  You want to
>be able to insert them as far as possible but have the most contact top
>to bottom that you can.  Put glue on the pinblock side and insert them
>along the flange line.  Tap them in place with a mallet.  Don't forget
>to cover the keybed with newspapaper.  Wipe off the excess, wait 20
>minutes and trim them with a flexible Japanese pull saw.  Then try the
>tuning again and see if it makes a difference.
>
>David Love
>davidlovepianos@comcast.net
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
>Christopher Purdy
>Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 7:01 AM
>To: College and University Technicians
>Subject: [CAUT] pin block strangeness
>
>I ran into a new one the other day.  A local dealer has pianos made for
>them by Dong Bei in China.  I was asked to make a service call on a
>small grand that was sold to a church.  This was my first encounter
>with one of these pianos.  The local tuner was having trouble with
>tuning stability and they asked me to have a go at it.
>
>Overall, it looked fairly well built and pin torque was very
>consistent.  String rendering had a mushy feel to it but I was able to
>set pins.  It seemed stable while I tuned and sounded like a million
>bucks when I was finished.  The other tuner had told the dealer that
>the piano was going out of tune even while he was working on it so I
>was very meticulous with my tuning and was looking everywhere for an
>answer.
>
>Then I found something that blew me away.  I checked the pin block fit
>and found that the block does not even touch the flange, at any point.
>Not only could I put a business card in the gap, bass to treble, but
>there was a huge gap.  I could have put the thickness of three or four
>cards in it with no problem.
>
>The previous tuner had just tuned the piano eight days before and when
>I got there the treble was a good 25 cents sharp.  I do not know this
>tuner so I can't speculate about his experience. I asked a ton of
>questions about humidity and temperature fluctuations and I gather that
>it has been pretty stable.  They do not turn off the heat during the
>week, etc.   I am going back this week to check my tuning.  I can't
>imagine it's going to be stable with no attempt whatsoever at pin block
>fitting.
>
>Have any of you seen anything like this?  I know there is a lot of
>griping about the pianos coming out of China but the rest of the piano
>really looked fairly well made.  The piano is named Steinhauer and is
>made exclusively for this dealer.  I would be very interested in
>hearing any experiences you may have had like this.  If I go back there
>and my tuning is FUBAR I am going to have to condemn this bird.  I have
>a good relationship with this dealer but I smell trouble.
>
>Mitch, have you dealt with any of these yet?
>
>Chris
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>
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Greg Newell
Greg's piano Forté
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net