<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "> Willem,<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I did indeed carefully measure the pins, of course (since I was seriously puzzled by this phenomenon) - and they were exactly the same size, namely .051.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>The idea of pin wear is what I suggested in my original posting as the third possibility I could think of; and by the way, are center pins then, in fact, plated? I've always assumed so, but if they're made of "nickel silver" as the supply catalogue says, are they nickel-plated on silver? Silver plated on nickel? Or are they solid chunks of some alloy called "nickel-silver"?</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Sorry for what may sound like dumb questions; it seems like something I should know after all these years. Or perhaps I knew it definitively at some point, and have forgotten it since; one of the joys of maturity, that you sometimes get to learn things a second time!</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Allen</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br><div><div>On May 15, 2008, at 3:36 AM, Willem Blees wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><wbr>Allen<br> <br> Two theories. <br> <br> One, just to be on the safe side, did you actually measure the new pins to make sure it is the exact same size as the old pin? Or are you just reaching into your box of pins, and pulling one from a box that says size (51), or whatever? <br> <br> Two, when you measured the old pin, did you measure the middle of the pin, or at the end? I'm just guessing here, but I wonder if perhaps the ends of the pins are just slightly smaller where it was in contact with the bushing cloth. Perhaps the nickel plating, or some other outer surface of the pin, was "eaten" off by the felt, or what ever was or is in the felt. So when you measured the middle of the pin, it is the same size as your new pin, but the ends of the pins are slightly smaller, which is why the bushing was loose. <br> <br> As I said, just speculating. Comments, anyone. <br> <br> <br> <div style="CLEAR: both">Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<br> Piano Tuner/Technician<br> Honolulu, HI<br> Author of <br> The Business of Piano Tuning<br> available from Potter Press<br> <a href="http://www.pianotuning.com">www.pianotuning.com</a></div> <br> <br> -----Original Message-----<br> From: Allen Wright <<a href="mailto:akwright@btopenworld.com">akwright@btopenworld.com</a>><br> To: Pianotech List <<a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a>><br> Sent: Wed, 14 May 2008 1:27 pm<br> Subject: center pinning question<br> <br> <div id="AOLMsgPart_2_a0e2c968-cec0-4faa-9cfc-2fc63ffa4fe4">In repinning an old (1930's) Steinway M, quite a few were loose. I found that replacing the old pins with the exact same size (but new) pins was producing just the amount of friction needed - and even in some cases adding too much, so that I had to ream with my "Mannino" burnishing files. Any theories on how that happens? Something to do with the nap of the cloth changing in the process, or perhaps the angle of the pin changing in the bushing, or (even more unlikely) that somehow only the outer edges of the pin are slightly worn on the old pins? (These are the various ideas me and my colleagues were coming up with to explain the phenomenon). <div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div> <div>Thanks, and I'll take my answer off the air... : )<br> <div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div> <div>Respectfully,<br> <br> <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal;! LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto"> <div>Allen Wright. RPT</div> </span></span></span></span></div> <br> </div> </div> = </div> <div id="u8CA844B9694B584-56C-23AA" class="aol_ad_footer"><font style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><hr style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Plan your next roadtrip with <a title="http://www.mapquest.com/?ncid=mpqmap00030000000004" href="http://www.mapquest.com/?ncid=mpqmap00030000000004" target="_blank">MapQuest.com</a>: America's #1 Mapping Site.</font> </div></blockquote></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div><br></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span> </div><br></div></body></html>