Tight pinblocks

carl meyer cmpiano@earthlink.net
Tue, 30 May 2000 10:52:57 -0700


Brian::: Go ahead, be a jerk.  We need more jerks.  That is if jerks
always tell the truth.
Being one who considers the weird solution the most fascinating, I'd try
heating one of the tightest pins by using a 6 volt filament transformer
rated at about 10 amps and conecting one lead thru a heavy wire and a
large copper aligator clip to the top of the tuning pin, then using the
other lead conected to a piece of brass tubing push it up under the
pinblock to contact the bottom of the tuning pin.  A lamp or buzzer
across the 6 volts will tell you you have made contact when the buzzer
stops.
You'd have to find out how many seconds it would take to work, but
turning the pin while its hot and checking it again when it cools will
tell you if it helps. I'm just speculating and I haven't tried it. 
Frances Mehaffey
used to make a similar device for center pins, but thats a bit
different.
It's sad that we need to correct things that should never been allowed
to happen in the first place.  If you try it let me know how it works.

Carl Meyer
Santa Clara, Ca.

"John Lillico, RPT" wrote:
> 
> >I tried to tune a piano today that had been built with what I believe is an
> >excessively tight pinblock.......
> >Am I being a jerk to say that this brand new, well recognized, name brand
> >piano is defective?
> >
> >Brian Trout
> 
> If this is a grand, there's an opportunity here to test the effectiveness of one of those heating bars under the block. Maybe I'm a jerk too! It's only early morning logic!
> 
> John Lillico, QC #2617
> Oakville, Ontario


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