Tuning pin size?

[Ron Nossaman]

>Ron & List,
>My question was and still is, does anyone know when and how did the
>industries decide on the diameter of tuning pins?

Hi Joe,
Again, I sure don't specifically, but with the consensus of opinion of
rebuilders who are willing to decide for themselves what works and what
doesn't (based on personal experience and experimentation rather than
industry specified sacred cows), ending up in about the same place, it
can't have been anything but a similar process among manufacturers that set
these standards in the first place. What aspect of piano design a hundred
years ago wasn't dictated by empirical criteria of what seemed to work best
according to what they knew at the time? And once any manufacturer had
something that seemed to work, why wouldn't everyone else not attempt to
copy it to save themselves the trouble of trying to work out their own
understanding of why something worked - or didn't? 


>Another question that's bugged me for years: Why is it that some
>manufacturers 2/0 tuning pins are too big for a standard #2 tip, while some
>are too small and others are just right? (Hmmmm! sounds like Goldilocks had
>something to do with that!) :-)
>Regards,
>Joe Garrett
>P.S.
>An afterthought: Maybe Jack Wyatt might know about this stuff. Jack?

The tip shape is an entirely different and separate concern from pin
diameter, and is apparently not standardized even today.


Ron N