In a message dated 98-09-15 23:31:42 EDT, you write: << Hello Wim et all I have not had the oportunity to work with delignit boards ( what are they made of or what treatment they use, is it against humidity ? ) but normaly in Caracas, we have a very high degree of humidity all year round, and I had problems some years ago, every time I changed tunning board for a piano that was from out of the city I had problems. I conditioned a room with a couple of dehumidifiers ( the ones that collect the watter in a collector and work simmilar to an air coditioner, ) They are sert to keep the room at 38% relative humidity. Since then all the works have been excellent. Elian Degen Piano Tuner and Technician Caracas, Venezuela degen@telcel.net.ve >> Delignet blocks are made of hard rock maple, but they are multi laminate. Instead of the normal 5 - 7 layers, Delignet blocks have 15 or so layers in a 1 1/2" thickness. My therory is that if pin block become useless because one layer of wood cracks, if there were only 5 layers, and one cracked, one would loose 20% of the gripping power. With a multilaminated block like delignet, if one layer craks, there are lots of othe layers left to support the pin. The presumed draw back of a Delignet block is that there is too much glue in the block. This might be true, and when trimming a delignet block, chissels, routers, and planers do get duller faster. But the upside is longer lasting block. On a side note, I have repairs built in blocks with epoxy, where the pin is leterraly encased in epoxy. Although the torque on a pin set in epoxy does feel a little different, it hold the string, which is the purpose of the whole thing. Since epoxy doesn't crack, nor is it suseptible to humidty or even water, I have often wondered what would happen if a whole pin block was made out of an epoxy type material. The cost would be much higher, but if the expoxy could be poored onto the plate, and then drilled, the block would last indefinately. Any thoughts on this? Willem Blees RPT St. Louis
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