[CAUT] Wurlitzer Iron Pinblock - Anyone ever restring one of these things?

Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu
Sun Sep 14 08:02:32 MDT 2008


On Sep 13, 2008, at 1:34 PM, Kendall Ross Bean wrote:

> I think there might also be some confusion here because Wurlitzer  
> apparently used two different configurations for these iron  
> pinblocks. The one I am working on uses a machine screw with a  
> relatively fine thread to hold the tuning pin in from the back (or  
> underside on a grand), but you brought up a good point: there was  
> also a design that used wedges, and a tuning pin that was split at  
> the bottom to accept the wedge, which wedge could then be pounded in  
> further to tighten the pin (which design I have also seen in my  
> travels, but unfortunately don't have a picture of.)

Oops, I guess I didn't look at the photo. Yes, definitely a different  
animal. I suspect the wedge one came first. I always heard it called  
the "Wegman" plate, so I assume someone called Wegman invented it.  
That system doesn't have much control. You can drive the wedge and get  
more torque, but that isn't reversible, or at least not easily. The  
one I tune is definitely too tight for fine tuning, a real struggle.
	So probably the Wurlitzer R & D guys (and they had quite a department  
at times) came up with this solution, which seems like a great one. If  
you wanted, before restringing you could remove them all, refinish the  
plate, clean everything up, lube if it seemed appropriate, and then  
reinstall, checking each for torque and adjusting. You could do an  
initial install using an electric screwdriver with a torque adjustment.
	Or you could just leave them in place as described earlier.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu


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