Pinblock plugs

[Les Smith]

On Wed, 21 Feb 1996, Mark Dierauf wrote:

> I have a situation with a very old (straight strung, 3/4 plate) Chickering that
> was restrung with oversize pins a few years ago and the block is now failing
> miserably. Although I have no interest in getting involved in this myself, I
> suggested that the old block might be successfully repaired by plugging with
> delignit plugs and redrilling for 2/0 pins, a procedure that I've heard about
> but never seen, let alone done. Meanwhile, the tech who restrung this beast says
> that he believes such a procedure would harm the structural integrety of the old
> block (This guy had a plate break on him recently during a pitch-raise, so he's
> understandably cautious).
>   Does anybody have any direct experience with this type of procedure? It seems
> to me that it would be a good way to avoid the expense of replacing a block of
> this type. My own feeling is that he should never have spent dime one on this
> "piano" in the first place, but now that he has, he should be looking to spend
> as little as possible to fix it (and then get rid of it!).
>
>                 Mark Dierauf
>                 Concord, NH
>
> visit the WinScale Homepage at:
>
> http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mdierauf

Hi, Mark. A straight-strung, 3/4 plate Chickering, huh? That's got to
be so old that old Jonas probably worked on that one himself! In case
the other technician didn't notice, the structural integrity of the
pinblock is ALREADY SHOT if it was restrung a few years ago and is already
failing miserably. My advice is very simple: Forget about this piano
entirely and don't make the previous technician's problem YOUR problem.
You're probably quite right in your assessment that the instrument shouldn't
have been restrung in the first place. Consider how you would feel if you
took the time to plug, drill and repin the block and then the plate broke on
YOU as you were pulling it up to pitch. The age and quality of this piano
just doesn't justify your getting involved any further. Walk away and forget
it!

Les Smith
lessmith@buffnet.net