Baldwin Tuning Pin problem?

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Jerry,

Welcome, newbie. I see you're getting some on you. I think you just found
the amazing "stagger the string between tuning pins so close together that
the string won't move" syndrome. Check and see if the string has a straight
path from the tuning pin to the v-bar. If it is deflected by other pins or
wire coils en route, that's the problem. Too much friction for the string to
render past all these bends. These suckers are VERY difficult to stabilize!
You have to go back and touch them up a half dozen times during the tuning
(they creep because you can't tell when you've left them solid). Get used to
it. You'll see it again in other Hamiltons. If that isn't the case, then
disregard the above blatherings. Also, did you fix the loose hammers while
you were there?  

Ron Nossaman



At 09:17 AM 10/6/97 +0100, you wrote:
>I hope you'll excuse me if this question seems trivial, (yeah, yeah,
>another newbie - I'm a fairly new tuner). I tuned my first Baldwin a
>couple of days ago, a 2 year old Hamilton. Most of the tuning pins were
>so tight one could almost justify using an impact wrench. However, I did
>run across a couple of pins that were extremely loose, and the one that
>troubles me the most is the center pin for the A37. It pulled up okay
>(tight but otherwise felt fine). However, when I pushed the hammer back
>the other way to drop the pitch down, I nearly fell off the bench
>because there was no resistance. BUT the pitch didn't change any. My
>first moment of horror was that the tuning pin was broken, but it seemed
>to be okay.
>At any rate, since I was essentially doing a pitch raise anyway, I left
>this note as was (a couple of cents sharp) and tuned the rest of the
>piano to it.
>I would appreciate any suggestions as to possible cause and solution to
>the problem. In retrospect, I'm wondering if the problem might relate to
>too much bearing on the pressure bar - I did have problems with several
>notes (mostly in upper treble) in settling the note on the desired pitch
>- i.e. I could pull the note up, but couldn't seem to get it to drop
>down to pitch, then all of a sudden the note would be below pitch again.
>
>Any and all suggestions will be most welcomed.
>Thanks.
>
>
 Ron Nossaman