<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3059" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm stringing an 1890s open-faced-pinblock Knabe grand. The strings come off a bearing bar on the plate to the tuning pins at angles ranging from 2 to 8.5 degrees (the steeper angle is for the pins closest to the capo bar).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fortunately I have graduated beyond the realm of drilling all tuning pins at some magic 7 degrees or whatever. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My general feeling is to drill the hole at the exact angle that will initially orient the pin perpendicular to the string. My thoughts are that perpendicular will not encourage the coil to loosen, nor will the string tend to cross over the coil. But of course, over time, there will be some tendency for the pin to lean forward (hopefully not much on my Delignit-capped block) a bit anyway. And of course, over time the tuning pin will be screwed downward into the block - both motions tending to make some acute angle with the string and the pin top - which will tend to keep the coil tight - and hopefully not enough angular change to create a situation where the string wants to run up over the coil.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That's the way I see it. What do others have as a preference for tuning pin angle relative to string angle?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell<BR>Farrell Piano</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://www.farrellpiano.com">www.farrellpiano.com</A><BR><A href="mailto:terry@farrellpiano.com">terry@farrellpiano.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>