[CAUT] existing pinblock prep

[Fred Sturm]

On Jul 24, 2008, at 6:28 PM, David Brown wrote:

> Fred and all-
>
> Thanks for clarifying that for me. This was originally posted and  
> replied to by self admitted low volume restorers who , in my  
> thinking , would not be as quick as one might be after having done  
> several without removing the pins. Your tips for that are a great  
> help.
>
> Regards-
>
> David

Hi David,
	Until a few years ago, I wouldn't have considered restringing without  
replacing pins. It wouldn't have occurred to me. I assumed it would be  
far too cumbersome. Then I read on this list that several people with  
considerable experience, and with a very good claim to my respect, did  
it as a matter of course. So I began to change my notions. My first  
stab was restringing capo sections, and it went quite well after a bit  
of adapting techniques. After a few of those, I tackled a full piano.  
Never looked back.
	To put the operations of new pins versus reusing old ones in  
perspective, think of comparing the moves needed to do the work. A  
piano is ready to string. Your tools and supplies are laid out. You  
pick up a tuning pin, put the end of a string in the becket hole, pick  
up the coil crank, make a coil, put down the crank. So far exactly the  
same for both methods, except that it is a new pin in one case, a  
dummy pin in the other. (Me, while I am cranking I just hold the pin  
between my thumb and index finger. I wear a glove, and I put a piece  
of leather over the thumb and index finger, a cylinder of leather  
created with a stapler).
	At this point, with new pins, you place the end of the pin in the  
hole, pick up a punch, put the punch on the pin; holding it in place,  
you pick up a hammer and hammer the pin home. Put down punch and  
hammer, move on to the next task (which will be identical whether or  
not pins are replaced).
	If you are retaining the current pins, you put down the crank, pick  
up a sharpened needle nose pliers, insert the tip of one jaw of the  
pliers between the becket bend and the pin, once the wire has been  
pried a bit away from the pin you turn the pliers so that you can grab  
the becket bend of the wire with the jaws of the pliers, you pull it  
the rest of the way out of the hole (prying against the pin) and pull  
the coil off the pin. Now you place the coil over the pin that is  
already in the block (pliers are still grabbing the wire), guide the  
becket bend into the becket hole, and then use the same pliers to  
"squeeze the coil home."
	If your pins have been turned so all becket holes are in the same  
direction, and if your technique in cutting wire and cranking a coil  
are consistent, you can have the hole right under the end of the wire  
when you place the coil over the pin. Just a matter of slipping down  
until the end of the wire meets the hole. Very fast and slick. It took  
much longer to write than it would to do the job.
	With smaller diameter wire, say 16 and smaller, I think I can string  
slightly faster transferring coils to old pins than pounding new pins  
home. With larger gauges it isn't so clear. When you get down to the  
lowest bass strings, it gets downright tedious and frustrating, both  
removing the coil and getting it transferred. But I haven't been  
defeated yet <G>. A tip about removing a coil in heavy gauge: hold the  
dummy pin with a vise grip or the equivalent, for extra stability and  
to get your fingers out of the way.
	A few other considerations: replacing pins means picking up a sledge  
hammer ~225 times and swinging it ~1000 times (a good bit of effort),  
creating a lot of noise in the process. Reusing pins probably means  
more time cleaning up coils (they are looser on the pin after transfer  
than they would tend to be on a driven pin). A thought I have had: one  
could easily get two stringings on 2/0, two more on 3/0, two more on  
4/0, or several on 2/0 - essentially one can extend the life of the  
block to when the board might need to be replaced.
	I have gone on so long and in some detail because I figured that  
since the issue was raised, I might as well go the whole nine yards  
and get it in the archives, to be mined 100 years from now <G>.
	In any case, to each his own methods. I think there are a lot of us  
who find reuse of the existing pins is the way to go more often than  
not. Worth a try, anyway.

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


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