<!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 6.00.2800.1226" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=MBratPianos@indy.rr.com = href="mailto:MBratPianos@indy.rr.com">Mike Bratcher</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> December 18, 2003 8:11 = PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: A Hitch in a Hitchpin/Del</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Are these the same type hitch pins = used briefly by Baldwin in their Classic series grands?  I needed to twist a = bass string on one of these a while back, but was unable to get the string = off after the round loop of the bass string had elongated to the point it = wasn't possible to remove with out damaging the string.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mike Bratcher</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Well, yes = and no. They are the right type but not the right specification. This problem was noted = with the original testing of this pin. And it was solved, at least in theory.</FONT></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" = color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>The standard = pins have a rather deep groove either machined or rolled into them. For the 3/16" = (approx. 4.8 mm) pin this groove is 1/32" radius X 1/32" deep (approx. 0.8 = mm r X  0.8 mm d). For the 7/32" (approx. 5.6 mm) pin this groove = is 3/64" radius X 2.5/64" deep (approx. 1.2 mm r X  1.0 mm d). For a small = extra cost the companies making these pins will make this groove any radius = and depth you want. So we tried some pins with a shallower groove and they worked = great. There was no problem with removing and replacing bass strings and they = still located the strings properly. Unfortunately, the extra cost of the pins apparently precluded their use in production. The special groove did add = about 25% to their cost. This amounted to, perhaps, a dollar or so per piano.</FONT></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" = color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>The proper = specification (for anyone interested) is (for both pins) a groove diameter of = </FONT><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>1/16" and a groove depth of 1/32" = (or approx. a 1.6 mm radius and a 0.8 mm depth). </FONT></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" = color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Del</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>