Dopey Tuning

[Clyde Hollinger]

Friends,

I am still a little stymied on using CA on pinblocks.  (Aren't we good at
pounding this subject to death?!)  I only recently started doing this and have
done maybe three or four so far.

I heard someone in a convention mini-technical say you only need three or four
drops; I think he said four.  So I applied enough so I could see it wick around
the entire pin.  That used about 1/3 bottle and wasn't too successful.

I also used an entire 2-oz. bottle on an old upright.  I just kept going over
the pins until the bottle was empty.  That covered all the pins twice and most
of them three times.  When I went back to tune the piano a couple weeks later
they were so tight they felt like they would twist off!

So I know my experience is limited, but it makes me wonder if two or three
bottles really do any more good than one.  Is it too much of a good thing?  I do
feel that several drops aren't enough, unless the pins weren't all that loose to
begin with.  Comments?

Regards, Clyde



Farrell wrote:

> I have used CA with good sucess in general. I glued a block in a cheap grand
> (loose AND very jumpy pins) a couple weeks ago and it was my first total
> disaster with CA. A waste of time and glue (and her money). No beneficial
> effect at all. I ended up shimming 28 pins and told her that next time there
> will likely be a few more. Shame, piano was recently restrung. Guess the guy
> (or gal) didn't know tuning pins get loose.
>
> The few other times I sucessfully used CA, I have used 2 or 3 of the 2 oz.
> bottles - I gooped in in until it would not go in any more. Some recent
> posts suggested just a few drops is all that is needed. So this time I used
> less - about 1 oz. total. I wonder if that is why it did not work this time.
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2000 8:41 AM
> Subject: Re: Dopey Tuning
>
> > Course there is pinblock dope and there is pinblock dope. Actually the old
> Pin
> > tite and similiar products are quite different approaches from CA and
> Epoxy
> > methods and I am not sure the "dope" is the right word for these latter. I
> never
> > had any good results from the old style of dope either and what you
> describe is
> > what I always ended up with.. stopped useing that kinda thing long time
> back
> > now.
> >
> > I have heard some say that applying CA to pinblocks that have been treated
> thus
> > can greatly improve the situation, but CA is something I have very little
> > experience with so I will leave that to others to confirm or deny
> >
> >
> > Farrell wrote:
> >
> > > Well, last night I tuned my first (for sure) pin block doped piano. 1926
> > > Cable upright - much better than average condition - grandmother bought
> it
> > > new. Bass restrung about 15 years ago. The tuning pin collars were
> black,
> > > and some dark tarry-looking goop was on plate in tuning pin area (likely
> > > doped at time of bass restring). And EVERY pin was REAL MUSHY! A bit
> hard to
> > > tune - seemed like you needed a new hammer technique. It felt like
> someone
> > > put a thin collar of neoprene around each tuning pin. Torque was
> typically
> > > pretty low, likely ranged from 20 to 50 inch-pounds (estimate). It just
> felt
> > > like notes were going to start creeping flat as I was driving home from
> the
> > > job. Is this a problem with doped pinblocks - creeping flat in short
> periods
> > > of time?
> > >
> > > Terry Farrell
> > > Piano Tuning & Service
> > > Tampa, Florida
> > > mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
> >
> > --
> > Richard Brekne
> > RPT, N.P.T.F.
> > Bergen, Norway
> >
> >
> >