Yamaha pinblock

[Wimblees@aol.com]

Since the subject of the grey market Yamaha's are hitting airways, I thought
I'd add a little information about the pin blocks in these pianos.

As you might recall, I brought a 25 year old grey market Yamaha in the shop
for the purpose of replacing the pin block. Well, I want to tell you what I
found.

The pin block is doweled onto the inner rim like a Stienway, except that there
are only 2 dowels in the treble and 1 in the bass. There are also 2 screws on
the treble end and two on the bass end, (one of which broke off in trying to
remove it). But this is where the similarity ends. Instead of the block being
doweled into the stretcher, and a piece of verneer glued between the block and
stretcher for easy removal, they made the pinblock part of the stretcher. 

Here is what we found. The bottom 2 layers of the pin block extend all the way
to the front edge of the stretcher. The next three layers recede about a 1/2
inch into the stretcher. And the top 2 layers of the pin block are even with
the inside of the stretcher. In other words, there was no way to cut the pin
block loose from the stretcher with a chisel. 

Here is what we did. We removed most of the pin block and then used a
reciprocal saw to cut along the insde edge of the stretcher. We then removed
the last bit with a planer and files. Because we couldn't get a saw close to
the corners of the pin block, we litterally had to chisel away layer after
layer of of pin block material until it was all gone. 

There probably is an easier way. We noticed the strecher is attached to the
side of the piano with an L bracket, held in place with four screws. If we
wanted to, these screws could be removed, and the stretcher and pin block
could be removed in one piece. But the pin block would then still need to be
cut from the stretcher. The other problem with this method is that you take a
chance of damaging the polyester finish, which creates another problem.

I just thought I would pass this information along to you guys, in case you
get a call to do this work. It is not impossible, but be sure to add a few
dollars to your normal pinblock replacement charge. I didn't, so I am having
to eat a little of the job, but not enough to get upset about. 

Willem Blees RPT
St. Louis