List, I tuned a Wurlitzer Spinet yesterday (yeah, I do have to go out to make some extra money occasionally) that was 1/4 to 1/2 step flat. The type without a fallboard. It hadn't been tuned in years!!! My question is this: The entire piano had jumpy, sort of loose, tuning pins. Some were worse than others, but they would all hold. There were a few that, when bumped backwards, would go all the way down. But when I brought them back up, they held. I could see no evidence of contamination around the tuning pins. The pin block, unfortunately, had one of those app. 1/8" thick pieces of wood glued to the top of it, so I couldn't check for pin block/back separation there. Before the piano came to Houston, it had lived on both coasts of Florida and a couple of other places, not coastal. The only other time I've seen pins that jumpy was after some "tooner" in West Texas had sprayed WD-40 on the pins and coils to clean off the rust!! Except for, possibly, the salt water humidity or block problems, I have no other ideas. IMHO, the piano isn't worth trying to do anything to. I explained the problem to the customer and advised them to start thinking about getting another piano in the near future. But my curiosity is aroused. What could cause this on the entire piano? Any ideas? Thanks. _____________________________________ Avery Todd, RPT Moores School of Music University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-4893 713-743-3226 atodd@uh.edu _____________________________________
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