A treble in trouble

[Ted Simmons]

Del, I'm going back on Tuesday Oct 28 to measure the gap, if any, between
pinblock and plate flange. I talked to the installer and he assures me that
the pinblock was meticulously fitted to the flange. I'll let you know what
I find.
Thanks for your response.

Ted Simmons

>JIMRPT@aol.com wrote:
>
>> Ted;
>>  A new string job is not as stable as one which has had numerous tunings,
>> naturally, and this is might be the cause of your 'M' being a little flat
>> each time.
>> A loose pinblock to plate flange might be an indicator of not quite accurate
>> workmanship but it does not needfully cause the piano to go flat.  If the
>> pinblock is glued and doweled into the stretcher and side rims any forward
>> movement of the pinblock will be  minimal.  If 'not' glued/screwed/ doweled,
>> there is no telling what will happen to the plate/tuning (perhaps Del will
>> speak to this)
>>   Before you cross this firm off, be sure that the reason for such apparent
>> instability is/was not just due to the lack of adequate tuning/rubbing in the
>> shop before delivery.  You say "It has received 8 tunings since its
>> reconditioning." Does this mean that you have tuned it eight times? & How
>> long has it been since it was delivered?
>>   I tell my customers, and the techs, I rebuild for that it will take at
>> least a year for a newly restrung instrument to settle down and the more
>> times they tune it the quicker this will happen.  Some settle down faster
>> than others, why ? I don't know. >:|
>> Jim Bryant (FL)
>
>Ted, Jim, et al,
>
>>From the sound of Ted's original post, the piano was restrung by someone
>>in whom he has faith. Had this been a first
>experience I might be inclined to suspect a poor pinblock fit or
>installation. (We once re-did a Steinway pinblock done by a
>"well-known rebuilder" that looked like it had been hacked out with a
>chain saw. It was neither glued nor doweled to either
>the rim or the bellyrail. The customer--another rebuilder--was clued in by
>the fact that about half of the tuning pin holes
>in the block did not line up with the holes in the plate. A few of them
>could barely be seen.) I don't know how this piano
>would have performed, it never got that far. We put in another block and
>another new soundboard.
>
>In general, Steinway plates are a bit on the light weight side. This is an
>intentional part of the design; they're not just
>being "cheap" trying to save iron. This design depends on the pinblock
>being a structural part of the rim assembly to help
>support the plate. They also depend on the plate nose and wedge assembly
>to transfer and distribute some of the load from the
>plate/pinblock to the belly braces. Steinway's more than most depend on a
>good, tight fit between the pinblock and plate.
>They also depend on having the nose wedge firmly in place between the
>plate nose and the belly rail (or "tone-collector").
>Properly put together, and with the nose wedge properly in place, it all
>makes an enormously rigid assembly.
>
>If the pinblock were not glued and doweled to the rim assembly and/or if
>the wedge were not correctly installed I would
>expect plate problems down the road. It would probably break eventually
>(if not right away). I'd expect the strut between the
>bass/tenor break to go. If the wedge is correctly installed, but the block
>is not glued and doweled, who knows? The piano
>would probably be fairly unstable even if the block were well fitted to
>the pinblock flange. I can't imagine any shop with
>more than a passing knowledge of (and respect for) Steinway piano
>construction doing the job this way, however.
>
>Aside from checking to be sure that the pinblock is firmly glued in place
>and in firm contact with the plate pinblock flange
>and that the wedge (or in the case of those with the flat square plate
>that is butted up against a recess in the belly rail
>and screwed in place, the wood shim) is firmly in place, there may not be
>much you can do but wait it out. Well, you could
>also check to be sure that the plate bolts and pinblock screws are snug.
>(Now, if you've been reading your Journal, you know
>I don't believe in overdoing this, but it's not a bad idea to check them
>with a new or a recently rebuilt piano.) You might
>also check the nose bolt blocks, though I've never seen one of these come
>loose on its own. I have seen a couple that were
>taken off for some obscure reason and put back on incorrectly. It's hard
>to do it wrong, though--it's a pretty simple system.
>
>Depending on where the piano goes, we don't expect a fresh rebuilt piano
>to settle down for at least 12 to 18 months. A bit
>longer than that if the piano has had a new soundboard installed as well.
>Generally, we advise the piano owner to expect
>their pianos to require at least four tunings the first year, three the
>second and two thereafter. During the first year this
>schedule would call for the first tuning 30 days after delivery (the piano
>is delivered tuned and on, or very slightly above,
>pitch), the second two months later, the third following three to four
>months after that and then at four month intervals
>until the piano has fully stabilized. This schedule might well be revised
>by their tuner (who must be considered the final
>judge of the matter) but this would be pretty typical. It would not be
>unusual to expect some drop in pitch each time.
>
>Regards,
>
>--ddf