Twist and Shout - Follow up ?

[Z! Reinhardt]

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Greetings!

First of all, many thanks to those who responded to this post.

The only reason why I speculated on whether or not pin-driving might =
help with consistency is because years ago, a pin-driving job really did =
help.  The tighter pins didn't get a whole tighter, and the looser pins =
became comfortably tight.

I did try tuning the piano.  A church official (not the music director) =
was very curious in what I might find.  I commented that the pins looked =
unusually high in the block, which in turn may cause some of the tuning =
problems the previous technicians had.  (I was told during the =
appointment set-up call that other technicians have had a miserable time =
with this piano, and that any insights I may have would be greatly =
appreciated.)  As for my tuning efforts being any more durable than =
those of the previous techs' -- I couldn't promise anything and made =
sure that was understood, but I wanted to try tuning it just to get a =
feel on what may be going on.

So far, the church has promptly paid the bill and I haven't heard a bad =
word yet about the tuning job not holding up.

Meanwhile, the dealer got one of my juicy reports complete with pictures =
about what I found and what I thought should be done.  Haven't heard yet =
what course(s) of action they might be planning.  I'll let them decide =
how to proceed from here, and whether or not they will get warranty =
authorization from the manufacturer.  I well imagine that they will have =
one of their own do the pin-driving or even repinning job because it =
will be cheaper for them.

This report is not the first this dealer has received from me.  They =
have been known to take these reports seriously so I trust that this =
mess will get resolved somehow.

More wait and see ...
Z! Reinhardt  RPT
Ann Arbor  MI
diskladame@provide.net

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Dave Nereson=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 6:19 AM
  Subject: Re: Twist and Shout - Follow up ?



    ----- Original Message -----=20
    From: David Skolnik=20
    To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
    Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 11:28 PM
    Subject: Twist and Shout - Follow up ?


    Hi Zen-
    So what did you do?

    David Skolnik





    At 12:34 PM 02/13/2002 -0500, you wrote:

      Hear the notes change pitch while the tuning pins twist!
      =20
      Hear the technician shout endless streams of obscenities!
      =20
      (And it's all happening at a church near you!)
      =20
      Hi Everyone --
      =20
      Yesterday was one of those days.  I was called in by a church to =
try to tune a piano that was notorious for not staying in tune.  What I =
found was all of the tuning pins standing so high in the pinblock that =
the bottoms of the coils were 10mm from the surface of the plate.  You =
read right -- 10mm, or 3/10 of an inch.  (Yes, I shot pictures of this, =
but I still have to get the film developed.  No, I didn't swear out =
loud, but it wouldn't surprise me if others before me had.)
      =20
      Pin torque was all over the map.  Some pins turned smoothly and =
didn't pose serious problems in being set.  Others were murderously =
tight.  Only one was bordering on loose.  What I'm wondering is, will =
pounding these pins to a proper height help bring about some sort of =
uniformity of torque or will it make the tight ones tighter still?
      =20
      Concerning the tight pins -- does anyone know of any cute tricks =
for slightly easing that tightness?  I'm going to work on getting =
authorization to do the pin-pounding job, and I'd like to be able to =
leave some semblence of consistency of pin torque when I'm done.
      =20
      Any insights would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.
      Z! Reinhardt  RPT
      Ann Arbor  MI
      diskladame@provide.net

          I'd bet that driving them in would make them tighter still.  =
The loose one you can of course replace with larger.  If the murderously =
tight ones are just a few, I suppose you could take them out, ream the =
hole, and put them back in.  But if it's a lot of 'em, -- I'm not sure =
what I'd do, short of removing them all, reaming and re-pinning.  Any =
type of lube might make them too loose or ruin the pinblock, but I guess =
you could experiment with one pin.
          I'm sure everyone has run into "frozen" regulating screws that =
break off.  I asked how to remedy this once, and someone suggested =
heating them, which I tried, first with a soldering iron, then a small =
torch -- didn't have much, if any effect.  I had to just replace all the =
ones that broke.  But has anyone tried to heat a tight tuning pin to =
make it expand, hopefully enlarging the hole?  Are tuning pins tempered? =
  (I realize I brought up more questions than answers).   --David =
Nereson, RPT, Denver

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