[CAUT] Tuning Pin Questions

[Fred Sturm]

On Jul 8, 2008, at 8:18 AM, Ken Zahringer wrote:

> I only have expertise in one area here, but I’ll share it.  Bluing  
> is a rust preventative surface treatment for steel.  It was once the  
> most common means of rust prevention, but now is used only  
> occasionally, mainly for gun barrels and tuning pins.  Technological  
> advances have made plating and stainless steel much cheaper than  
> they used to be so they are now the norm, except in applications  
> where those materials don’t work very well – like gun barrels and  
> tuning pins.
>
> Regards,
> Ken Z.
> -- 
> Ken Zahringer, RPT
> University of Missouri
> School of Music

Ah, but is that blue color on the threads of the nickel plated pins  
actually "bluing" or just a dye?Real bluing is a heat treatment, yes?  
I think we've all seen the Wurlitzer style "bluing" (a dye painted on  
the pins and dripping onto coils and sometimes plate), and I remember  
being able to purchase the stuff (probably ink). I am not convinced  
that tuning pins we get today are ever blued (true blued?) after  
threads are cut. So the treatment is only cosmetic, for the part of  
the pin that sticks out of the block, and doesn't affect the threads  
(hey, I could be wrong, but that color on those threads makes me  
awfully suspicious).
	I used to get some pins from Schaff that actually did seem to be  
"true blued" on the entire surface of the pin after threads were made.  
The threads were a bit deeper than what we get today. I don't know if  
those are still available.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20080708/c6474396/attachment.html