strings o spinet

[Frank Cahill]

Joe & Penny Goss wrote:
> 
> Hi Frank,
> It just dawned on me where the other end of the string is located ( right
> behind the key bed right? ) and that is why you could not get the slack you
> needed by taking the string loose on the bridge. Right? Samick has this
> same problem on spinets at the bass string break. They are very hard to
> string. My procedure is to back the pin out three turns, make a becket with
> my vice grips and put the string in the pin. Forming the coil is a bit
> tricky. To form the coil I place anything that will slip between the new
> string ( or repair string ) and whatever is next to it like other strings
> or pins. This is usually my pocket screwdriver about three inches long, but
> on occasion even smaller things, like a piece of #24 wire are needed to use
> as my guide.
> Very slowly the coil can be made turning the pin a quarter of a turn and
> resetting your string guide as necessary until the pin is back in to where
> there is not a lot of side draft to pull the string toward the pin
> block.Try to leave the coil always a 1/4 inch away from the bin block so
> that you can get something behind the coil to tighten the coil as you work.
> If it will go in between the spaces available the Mahaffy coil setter works
> great both pushing and pulling the coils, but will not always fit between
> the pins. Hummmm that gives me an idea for a cool tool.
> Good luck
> Joe Goss
> You know you are on the level if your bubble is in the middle.
> 

Thanks Joe.  Well I would have had slack if my thinking cap were on. The
hitch pin was quite accesible and I could have backed off the other
tuning pin.  But I had become so frustrated that all logical though
processes were no longer operating.  

I've never been a quick thinker! I'm the kinda guy who is always saying
"I shoulda said this when the boss asked me that." I always seem to
learn things the slow hard way.

But, the next time I'll be armed with ten pages of suggestions from all
the super techs outs there.  I wish this Internet stuff was around when
I first started learning piano technology.
-- 

Frank Cahill
Associate Member
Northern Va