Yamaha C7 Pinblock Fit

[JIMRPT@AOL.COM]

Whoa Todd!

 <<"Sure enough - huge gap in">>
the treble section between the plate and pinblock.  His question:  Would
it be worth his time and their money to try shimming the pinblock?">>

 Are you or your friend sure this is the cause of any tuning instability?
Since we are speaking of a C7 the pinblock is screwed and glued to the rim 
and is mortised/glued into the stretcher...are you, or your friend, saying 
that a "gap" in the treble section flexes and causes this apparent 
instability? If so what evidence is there that this is what is actually 
happening? What are the conditions in the church? Is the climate control 
system on all the time? are there midweek services in the church? Is there a 
DC system on the piano?

 Something obviously is happening to this piano judging by your friends 
remarks but.......I seriously doubt it is due even partially to some "gap" in 
the treble section of the pin/flange fit. There are Yamahas out there which 
have 'no' flange to pinblock contact and are perfectly stable or at least as 
stable as any comparable make.

 The supposed "treatment" of the block is an entirely different matter but 
again is not needfully the cause of any "instability". Although this 
"treatment" of the block would cause me to replace it if the pins were loose 
I would not think that the "treatment" in and of itself is cause for 
replacement.

 I think that much more information is needed in this case before an educated 
evaluation can be made.

<<"If someone
competent had seen it early on, it could have been fixed by Yamaha at
their expense and saved this church tons of money in tuning fees over
the years.">>

 There seems to be a leap of faith that no one "competent" has ever seen this 
piano...do you know that to be the case? In addition there seems to be a leap 
of faith that the piano needs to be fixed, should have been fixed by Yamaha. 
Again this is not needfully the case and probably isn't.

 Until there is some hard evidence that this "gap" is what is causing the 
"instability" problems then I would be very cautious in saying that this is 
'the' problem.   If he wants to address the "gap"......... then driving some 
wedges up between the flange/block interface will tell very quickly whether 
the 'real' problem is at that point. This needn't be a costly or time 
consuming procedure for anyone.
My view.
Jim Bryant (FL)