pitch raises & tuning pins

[Ron Nossaman]

>Hello Ron, John, Bill and others,
>
>My position on broken tuning pins was that it only happens when pins are
>very tight and that improper seating could increase the possibilty of
>breaking one.  Newton suggested that poor quality pins, such as some
>found in older Czech or Russian pianos, could be broken, even if the
>torque was moderate.  I've only tuned a handful of these and didn't
>break one, but I would point out that so far, no one has suggested that
>you can break a good quality pin with moderate torque, even with
>improper seating of the tip on the pin.
>
>Yat Lam Hong, PTJ tech editor several years ago, wrote an article which
>emphasized, among other things, focusing on the next pin that you're
>going to tune.  Following his suggestion, I ground off the tip very
>slightly so that the 'stars' would line up with the handle, reducing the
>need to feel around for the right fit.  Line up the handle with a corner
>of face of the pin and it goes right on.
>
---------------
>Carl Root, RPT
>Rockville, MD
>
>

Hi Carl,
I was thinking, possibly, about something like a new Kimball. I've never
seen any brand with tighter pins, that needed more pitch raises the first
five years than Kimball. Baldwin would also qualify in the tight pin
category, if not the pitch raise incidence. These pianos would fit your
criteria just fine. Any broken pins in these pianos from the speedy pitch
raise folks out there?

Good idea on the tip modification. I did this to one of my tips about
fifteen years ago. It seemed to work pretty well too. I finally wore it out
and retired it. I didn't modify the replacement the same way, though I can't
say why. It didn't occur to me, and I never missed it. In fact, I'd
forgotten all about it until you mentioned this. Strange. Hope I'm not
developing ah... er... uh, whatsizname's.

 Ron