More on Tight pins

[John Ross]

Hi Robert,
I would stay away from heat.
I always remember a dealer, years ago that I used to do some work for.
He took a piano on trade that had some rust on the pins. He phoned me
up, and was quite proud of the fact, that he had fixed that problem, by
spraying them, with WD40.
I informed him, that if it got into the block, he might have created a
bigger problem.
He thought he could solve that as well, he took a Bernzomatic torch to
the tuning pins, and the strings broke left right and centre.  He told
me, the breakage was  almost instantaneous.
Regards,
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada

Robert Goodale wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Thanks for all the input on the tight Kawai pins.
> unfortunately it is too late to consider many of the
> suggestions regarding what to do before restringing, but I
> will keep them in mind for the future.  As far as this
> specimen goes, however, I am still scratching my head.
> Someone suggested that the pins were probably 1/0 to start
> with.  This is not the case, as I always carefully measure
> them before I start a job.  Never assume anything is my
> rule.  The idea of leaving it alone for awhile to see what
> happens might have some merit, although I know that time
> will never make it perfect, only perhaps better.  One thing
> that I should mention is that many pins are still a bit
> high.  I have not yet gone through and leveled them all.
> Two thoughts cross my mind on this one.  First, lowering the
> pins will likely make them even tighter.  Yuk.  The second
> consideration, however, is that there will probably be less
> twisting and flex in the pin, thus this may improve it's
> tuneability.  Any opinions?  Lastly, I am still wondering
> about the idea of heating the pins a bit to see if it
> irons/compresses the pins a little.  Has anyone ever tried
> this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rob Goodale, RPT