Baldwin hitch pin replacement?

[Brian Trout]

Hi Jon,

What's the plate sitting on now?  I have one of these I'm just putting back
together (Baldwin scale 'E', 5'7").  It had dowels into the rim.  I'm trying
to figure out how it got that far off.  1/4" is a long way to move a plate.

Did the previous 'tech' put on a new bass bridge perhaps?  How's the bearing
over the long bridge?  Does it indicate the same 'low plate' on the nose end
of the piano?  I'm guessing that you would have noticed if the plate was
doing a lot of flexing when you were tightening it down.

If it appears that putting in the acujust pins will give a proper bearing,
go for it.  If I remember right, they (Baldwin) don't recommend the string
being more than about 3/8" up the hitch pin.

Good luck, Jon.

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Page <jpage@capecod.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Monday, August 16, 1999 8:49 AM
Subject: Baldwin hitch pin replacement?


>Re: Baldwin grand  H (?)   scale E
>
>Can the hitch pins be replaced with tension pins so
>the excessive downbearing can be eased a la 'accu-just',
>rather than raising the height of the plate support dowels?
>
>The bass, for instance, has 1/4" bearing at the moment. I don't
>think the summer humidity has moved the bridge that much.
>
>I was lazy when destringing and did not check bearing (it's only a Baldwin
>:-)
>The tone was lackluster. And the board had a 'thunk' sound when pounded
>with a clenched fist. It is not a candidate for a new board.
>But now the board produces a tone when hit.
>
>I believe the excessive bearing which was not addressed during the last
>restringing
>killed some of the tone and hopefully the board has sprung back a little.
>Big hope.  :-)
>
>In any case, that's what I have to work with and I'm hoping for a simple
>solution
>to the bearing issue.
>
>If I pull the plate again, I'll set the bearing with wood screws set in the
>plate
>bolt holes for adjusting height as Chris Robinson explained during one of
>his classes.   'Accu-just' would be nice too.
>
>Regards,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Jon Page,  Harwich Port,  Cape Cod,  Mass.  mailto:jpage@capecod.net
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>