<HTML><HEAD></HEAD> <BODY>More importantly, imho, is tightening down on the pinblock= screws to make sure the block is snug up to the plate.  I= had a Yamaha with tuning problems and Yamaha said to take the= tension down and tighten those screws.  It= worked. David Ilvedson <DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px;= PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 3px solid;= PADDING-TOP: 5px"> <HR> Original message From: vince mrykalo= <MADVINMRYK@YAHOO.COM> To: College and University Technicians= <CAUT@PTG.ORG> Received: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:09:00 -0800= (PST) Subject: Re: [CAUT] pin block strangeness <DIV align=left>You are going to have to fill that gap.  A= less messy way to do it than using a liquid filler is to first= lower the tension slightly (maybe a quarter of a turn on each= tuning pin) and then tap maple wedges every two or three inches= along that plate flange gap.  Restoring the tension will= tighten up those wedges. Christopher Purdy= <purdy@ohio.edu> wrote: </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT:= 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">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 bl! ock 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 exclusivel!= y 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 ___________________________________________= ____ caut list info:= https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives </BLOCKQUOTE> <BR= >Vince Mrykalo RPT University of Utah <HR SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - <A= href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=31637/*http://smallbusiness.yah= oo.com/resources/">Try our new resources site!</A>= </DIV></BODY></HTML>