<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> Today I tuned a 40's era Brown grand with heavily doped pins...or, I tried to.  I could hardly get the pins to move.  A peek under the pinblock told me most of the pins had been driven in so far they protruded from under the pinblock.  Most of the coils were flush with the plate. I had to open up the extension on my Hale and really put some elbow grease into it. Is there a danger that I could snap a pin by doing this?  Have you ever had a doped piano hold the pins so tight that a pin broke?  Could it happen? The sad thing is that the family (four small kids under 10, about to start lessons) bought the piano four years ago from a well-known Massachusetts piano dealer.  The piano hadn't been tuned at that time, and hasn't been tuned all these four years, yet it was very close to pitch. _______________________________________ Gregory P. Livingston, Piano Tuning and Service 781-237-9178 Piano Technicians Guild, associate member (Boston chapter) * * * Always remember September 11, 2001 <hr />See how Windows connects the people, information, and fun that are part of your life. <a href='http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093175mrt/direct/01/' target='_new'>See Now</a></body> </html>