<html> Zen - This is the post I was about to send before reading your response to Patrick.  It was written with the vision of a grand, not upright piano.  I decided to send it to you anyway, in the event that there might still be some validity in it. At 12:34 PM 02/13/2002 -0500, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Hi Everyone --   Yesterday was one of those days.  I was called in by a church to try to tune a piano that was notorious for not staying in tune. </blockquote> It sounds as though you were familiar with the instrument's reputation without having previously seen it.  Do you know other technicians whom you respect that have attempted unsuccessfully to deal with it?  Do you know who did the previous work?   <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> What I found was all of the tuning pins standing so high in the pinblock that the bottoms of the coils were 10mm from the surface of the plate.  You read right -- 10mm, or 3/10 of an inch.  (Yes, I shot pictures of this, but I still have to get the film developed.  No, I didn't swear out loud, but it wouldn't surprise me if others before me had.)   Pin torque was all over the map.  Some pins turned smoothly and didn't pose serious problems in being set. </blockquote> Does this mean that, in spite of the coil height, you felt confident in your ability to control the pin and string?  What was the torque,  or, a la Larudee, 'up and down torque'? <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> Others were murderously tight. </blockquote> Torque? <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> Only one was bordering on loose. </blockquote> Torque? <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> What I'm wondering is, will pounding these pins to a proper height help bring about some sort of uniformity of torque or will it make the tight ones tighter still?</blockquote> Why would you think that tapping in acceptable pins, and very tight pins, and a loose pin, would make them all feel the same?  To my mind the only reason for tapping pins is to create more torque for otherwise loose pins, of which you seem to have but one.  Yes, coil heights evenly within the proscribed range is a desirable condition, but if the price for this consistency is unmanageable and inconsistent torque, it seems a pyrrhic victory.  If many of the pins were already "murderously tight", where will further tapping take you on the Guild Approved Adverbial Scale?   <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Concerning the tight pins -- does anyone know of any cute tricks for slightly easing that tightness?  I'm going to work on getting authorization to do the pin-pounding job, and I'd like to be able to leave some semblence of consistency of pin torque when I'm done.</blockquote> Why?  Do you need this particular job?  What if you were convinced that the only way to make the piano acceptably tunable was, as Del mentioned, replacing pinblock?  Would the Church Elders go for it?  If not, why would you waste your time, effort, and good name attempting to correct someone else's mistake?   <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Any insights would be greatly appreciated. </blockquote> Don't do what I did. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> Thank you. Z! Reinhardt  RPT Ann Arbor  MI <a href="mailto:diskladame@provide.net">diskladame@provide.net</a></blockquote> </html>