Hi Richard No doubt you will hear several varying opinions here. In my experience sloppy coils can but do not necessarily have an effect on stability. If a light tap on the pin itself results in some slippage... well you've diagnosed and found a problem pin. It does certainly no harm to pull them tight and it looks nicer to be sure. But I dont think I would overrate this one. That said... I certainly have not looked closely enough at any real experience/data/ whatever to speak with authority on the matter. I would guess that this is not a major problem, but thats a guess. I'd welcome and solid information one way or the other tho. In the mean time... pull up the coils and make them look good. And at the same time relieve whatever itch you have on the issue. You can tune as you go and it wont cost you more then perhaps an extra half hour 45 minutes me thinks. Cheers RicB I have a Steinway M in my care that has been restrung/rebuilt. The coils on the tuning pins are not drawn up tight, as I would expect. Can this have an effect on stability? Does it affect anything else? Would there be any advantage (several years after the restringing--don't know how many) to backing off the tension, and retighten while lifting the coils? Or would it be best to leave everything alone and just tune it? Richard Morgan
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