Fred, Can you do this two times?  Just trying to save a buck on practice rooms.... It makes a lot of sense to do this one time, but have you experimented twice with the same pins given good torque?  Now with the old pins, are you concerned at all with the appearance of the new job?  Restringing looks nice, but if the older pins are dingy or even rusty looking, do you proceed with this? I've not been here long enough to see, so I'm interested in what you've seen in your years.  Of course, practice rooms are not the best looking of beasts, but it still is important to keep them looking somewhat decent.   What say you? Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td width=40%>David Brown <dcbrown5@exchange.asu.edu> Sent by: caut-bounces@ptg.org 07/24/2008 07:38 PM <table border> <tr valign=top> <td bgcolor=white> <div align=center>Please respond to College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org></div></table> <td width=59%> <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>To</div> <td><caut@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>cc</div> <td> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>Subject</div> <td>[CAUT]  existing pinblock prep</table> <table> <tr valign=top> <td> <td></table> </table> Fred and all- Thanks for clarifying that for me. This was originally posted and replied to by self admitted low volume restorers who , in my thinking , would not be as quick as one might be after having done several without removing the pins. Your tips for that are a great help. Regards- David On Jul 24, 2008, at 3:33 PM, Rick Florence wrote: > Obviously, there is a time to keep the existing pins, which explains > David's qualifying statement "This doesn't address stringing on the > original pins." Yes, noted, and the post was a good one on the subject of evening out   torque. But the full statement was: "This doesn’t address stringing on the original pins. That is an   option if you are comfortable with the extra effort and time." In my experience, there really isn't extra effort and time involved.   Granted, you need to learn and hone new procedures, but with several   under my belt, I find that I probably save time, and perhaps effort as   well. It is a little more time consuming to get strings off and on,   but I have saved the time and effort removing pins. And the cost of   the pins. And any work on the holes. And I have saved time replacing a   block down the road (even if it happens after I retire <G>).    I should say I have developed a few procedures that speed things up.   I use a sharpened needle nose to remove coils (it gets between the pin   and the becket bend, and grabs the becket, pulls it out of the hole,   and pulls the wire off the pin). And I always go through all the pins   once the strings are off and standardize the angle of the becket holes   so they are all the same, so I don't have to go hunting. Little things   like that, and it goes quite smoothly. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu David C. Brown Arizona State University School of Music Piano Technician 1-480-965-6760 david.c.brown.2@asu.edu