Another piano handyman

[Mike Erickson]

Del Fandrich wrote:
> Actually, this has been tried. Many years ago, shortly after my brother had
> learned to tune pianos, he tuned one for a farmer in North Dakota. (We spent a
> few of our growing up years there.) Darrell explained that since the piano
> hadn't been tuned for years, and since the tuning pins were very loose and
> actually on the verge of slipping, the piano would have to be tuned again in a
> short time and would also need some additional work. Well, the next time he was
> in the area he called and, sure enough, the piano needed some work--though not
> what he expected. The man explained that the piano did not need tuning, but did
> need to have some strings replaced. 
> When he got to the piano he found that the man had welded each tuning pin to the 
> plate. 
> Needless to say, there were some problems...

Del,
  One of my customers (or a past owner) found another creative way to
fix his loose tuning pin problem. The piano resides in the small, rustic
mountain community of Oracle, Arizona. I have only been at this piano
once, so far.  This very old piano had no apparent brand name (weird
looking agraffes). It had a cut down case modification with mirror
across the top. The tuning pin area was open wood (no plate covering).

  The fix, I am just guessing, went something like this:  While the
tuning pins remained in their existing loose holes, an enterprising
Do-it-yourselfer drilled completely NEW pin holes in the block, - - -
unfortunately NOT in a logical pattern, and then he somehow moved the
tuning pins with strings over to his NEW holes, leaving the original
holes empty.  This solution may have worked only a short while, if at
all, because after realizing that the new holes were too large and the
pins still loose, he had to again drill a SECOND ROUND of randomly
placed holes (probably with a smaller drill bit) and then moved ALL the
strings and pins over a second time... leaving about 440 empty holes in
the aftermath (many of the old holes he tidied up by filling with wood
dowel). 

   When tuning, I must follow each string to find the corresponding
tuning pin - because there is no sequence.  If I ever have the pleasure
of tuning it again (all the pins are still very loose - even at 1/2 step
low)  I will surely bring my camera and tripod. 
Mike Erickson, Tucson, AZ