turning front rail pins....always a no-no?

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Jim writes: 
<< Can turning front rail pins be over done?....of course it can...just like 
anything else we do and there are those who over do everything and wonder why 
they have problems.......

 Turning front rail pins, within judicial limits, is just as viable an 
adjustment as say tweaking a back check or a damper or tilting a balance rail 
pin, 
etc., etc. >>

Agreed, 
        (Oh, so I won't be misunderstood about this later,  any person that 
can't turn or bend a front pin without nicking the bearing surface is basically 
a clod and should work on something like landscaping or garbage pick-up 
instead of pianos! ) 

   I have turned pins, to good effect.  If they are too far gone, that 
usually involves the balance rail hole and that bushing, so I usually let 
well-enough alone.  In other cases, it can make a dramatic effect.   
   Consider a normal pin, it has .140" width in the middle, tapering off to 
approx. .060" at the thinnest edge.  When you turn this pin, it only takes a 
few degrees to restore .140" width, and the contact area will be the same as 
new, touching the bushing in new locations just fore and aft of the old "center" 
of the pin. If the bushings are totally wallowed out, this will often not 
begin to change the tightness of the key until you have turned the pin past the 
point of maximum contact.  If you turn them past , you begin reducing the 
contact surface and wear is very rapid.  I consider that damaging to the piano and 
won't do it.  
   As Ron said, the biggest liability with this procedure is customer 
cooperation later, and the right explanation going in will help that.  Otherwise, you 
may hear less noise from the keys rattling than you do from an exasperated 
customer that thought you rebuilt her keyboard the last time you were there to 
tune.  

regards,



Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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