tight pins

[Michael Magness]

On Jan 13, 2008 2:42 AM, Diane Hofstetter <dianepianotuner at msn.com> wrote:

>
> Sid Stone once held a technical session at  his shop in which he applied
> heat to each tuning pin via a soldering iron.  His theory was to heat the
> pin, thereby causing it to expand somewhat and cause the hole to get larger.
>  I don't remember what his conclusions were (actually don't think there were
> definitive results).
>
> It always seemed to me that it would 1. take forever, and 2. since the
> soldering iron would probably take a long time to heat each pin for 230
> pins, it would take forever, and 3. since metal doesn't expand as much as
> wood, it would take forever.
>
> I remember once trying to heat pins wholesale with an iron to achieve the
> same ends more quickly, but don't remember any positive results from doing
> so.........
>
> Maybe heat would work?  Maybe the piano should be put first in too humid a
> condition, causing the wood to swell, then in too dry a condition, causing
> the wood to shrink?  Actually, you might try some steam in a small section,
> then the blow dryer on hot?  Also seems like it would take forever....
>
> Protek?  Please Vince, some advice from experience?
> Diane
>
>
>
>
>
> Leslie Bartlett l-bartlett at sbcglobal.net
> Sat Jan 12 21:53:04 MST 2008
>
>
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> ________________________________
>
>
> I actually had the music director try to pull a couple "up" a bit, and he
> was quite shocked. I often have customers turn pins, both to try to get
> something in tune, and to understand that this is actually an athletic
> venture at times.
> les bartlett
>
>
>
> Diane Hofstetter
>
>
David Love's idea of putting some current through the pins might work. The
system he's referring to was a large tweezers, seperated at the apex and
each side was insulated from the other with a small piece of fibreboard then
they were bolted together using a nylon bolt and nut. The current was
derived from a DC power converter(doorbell condenser)with the wire with
the positive current to one arm of the tweezers and the wire from the
negative to the other arm. The doorbell condenser is made to be "hardwired"
to household current but an AC plug can be attached and it can be plugged
in. Whenever the tips of the tweezers touched the ends of a center pin,
simultaneously, the circuit was completed, the power flowed and the pin was
heated momentarily. Not impossible in a grand piano pinblock just not that
easy!   <g>

Mike
-- 
I AM, therefore I THINK!
Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com
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