A long while back, I noticed that a tuning pin on a grand that I tune had suddenly lost its torque and apparently had been contaminated with valve or slide oil. I pulled the pin out, swabbed the hole liberally with lacquer thinner and drove in an oversized pin. Subsequently, the tuning pin in question has a tight but slippery feel and is also quite jumpy and, therefore, hard to tune/settle. Obviously, some oil remains in the block (there are hints of it having traveled to a few of the neighboring pins) (thanks to the lacquer thinner?) and I'd like to find a more successful way to repair the damage, since it seems unlikely that the oil can be removed. Recent talk on this list about pin driving fluid got me to thinking about using varnish (or shellac?) as a barrier to oil contamination of the block. I will most likely experiment with this idea soon but would like to know if anyone has had any experience or opinions they might share. Thanks, Tom Cole
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC