Tuning Pin Height by Danair

[Bill Ballard]

List,

I just did my first stringing with the pneumatic nailer (not a 
Danair, but a Taiwanese knock-off by Master Fastener), and I have the 
same response as everyone else: Where have you been all my life?

I also found that the finished pin height was real easy to get out of 
this nailer. I seem to remember that this subject has already come 
up, by I couldn't find it in the archives. So stop me if you've heard 
this one before. Start with the measurement of how far retracted the 
piston rod needs to be to activate the valve, and that's how tall the 
height gage needs to be. Let the nailer drive the pin in until the 
point where the height gage reaches the plate. Because the nailer can 
go no further down, the piston will no longer activate the valve. It 
took me ten minutes to punch in this finished height from treble to 
bass (including the time to move the pinblock support).

Which open up the possibility of setting the finished height at the 
same moment the pin first gets driven in, ie.: wind the coil on the 
pin, drive the pin in and (if it's the second pin on that string) put 
the wire on initial tension while lifting the coil, then come back 
with the nailer and drive to height and do a quick final check on the 
coil. (The aforementioned being done for both pins on that  string.) 
Ordinarily the pin height (as I do it with an upright hammershank 
trimmed to proper length and fastened to a tuning pin punch with hose 
clamps) is done in a second pass after spacing the strings at the 
capo, and front string rests.

Once again, I thought I heard something in during the last round or 
two of discussion on palm nailers about setting them up to do pin 
height. I found it surprisingly easy.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"Filing the bridgepins sure puts a sparkle on the restringing, but is 
best done before the plate is re-installed"
     ...........recent shop journal entry
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