<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Sometimes there are defects in the plate casting.  I recently had a similar experience with a Steinway B (1980ish).  The area that gave way was almost like sand—very crumbly.  Since I was restringing and refinishing the plate I drilled out the defective area (just in front of the original hitch pin hole) and plugged it with a piece of brass rod epoxied in place.  The plug left the original hitch pin hole mostly unfilled and so I only had to redrill it slightly taking out just a bit of the brass rod and inserted a new bridge pin.  I then sanded down the area filled it and refinished the plate.  This was a bit of repair on the fly, I’m sure there are other methods.  If you see buckling in the finish in front of the hitch pin, that’s a bad sign.  </span></font></p> <p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p> <p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>As far as the string breaking, I would measure the speaking length.  With plate indexing a common problem I suppose it’s possible they got the speaking lengths too long.    </span></font></p> <p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p> <div> <p><font size=2 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt; color:navy'>David Love</span></font><font size=2 color=navy><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'><br> davidlovepianos@comcast.net<br> www.davidlovepianos.com</span></font><font color=navy><span style='color:navy'> </span></font></p> </div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br> <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Tom Sivak<br> <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Sunday, October 22, 2006 6:22 AM<br> <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> pianotech<br> <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> hitch pin glitch</span></font></p> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>List</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>  </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I was tuning a 4 year old S&S Model S yesterday.  The piano was slightly low in pitch, but not significantly, having been tuned only 6 months ago.  By me.  </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The string at C8 broke at the capo bar.  I was shocked.  I mean, this is a practically new piano and it wasn't very flat.  </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> I went to the car and got my string kit and replaced the string, spanning the B7/C8 unison.  I started pulling the string up to pitch, going back and forth between B and C, and finally got B7 in tune and went to C8, pulling it up.  </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I found B7 had slipped, alot, and pulled it back up, and found C8 had slipped, alot, and pulled it up and back and forth and back and forth.</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Something was wrong.  I continued to try to get the new string up to pitch.</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Finally, the new string broke at the same place, right under the capo bar.  It was then that I noticed the plate hitch pin.  It was bent at a forward angle, leaning towards the keys, unlike all the other hitch pins (with a few notable exceptions, actually), which were all leaning back away from the keys at about the 2 o'clock angle.  This hitch pin was at an 11 o'clock angle.  I decided not to try to install another string with the hitch pin looking like this.</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I called the local Steinway dealer to initiate a warranty repair on this.  (I've never replaced a hitch pin, wouldn't know where to start)</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>My question is this: both strings broke.  It seems that the faulty hitch pin must have had some play in this, but I can't see how, really.  How could the hitch pin's angle cause the strings to break?</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>If I assume the hitch pin was in its proper position when I started to tune the unisons (which I don't know, since I didn't look at it until after the second string broke) and then bent forward as additional tension was added by me pulling them up to pitch, I can understand why the strings kept falling flat, since the length of the string, from tuning pin to hitch pin was getting smaller.  But why didn't the string hold when pulled up to its proper tension?  The string didn't slip off the hitch pin, it broke at the capo when it almost got up to pitch.  </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Could it be that the string started to move slightly upward on the hitch pin, by virtue of the hitch pin's angle allowing it to do so?  If that were true, then the string wouldn't render properly at the bridge, because of the upward pressure against the angle of the bridge pin?  I'm really trying to imagine how the hitch pin might have had a play in this.<br> <br> I guess it's possible that the strings breaking were unrelated to the hitch pin situation, but then why would the new string break?  Seems that it had to have something to do with it.</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Any ideas?<br> <br> I don't think I will be involved in the replacement of this hitch pin, but I am curious as to how it is done, and if it can be done in the customer's home.  After finding the problem on B7/C8, I looked at all the other hitch pins and found two others that are standing more vertically than all their compatriots, as if they were on their way to moving completely forward like the problem hitch pin did.  I could see the metal on the plate looked 'bunched up' on the front side as if the forward movement of the hitch pin caused the plate metal to deform, slightly, upward, on each of the hitch pins that were not at the same angle as the others.</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Any comments?</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thanks,</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tom Sivak</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Chicago</span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p> </div> </div> </body> </html>