Two Loose Pins

[bases-loaded@juno.com]

John -

Two possibilities come to mind...  

1.  With only two pins, I would replace them with a couple sizes larger. 
Since they are positioned so closely as to not allow your tuning lever in
one without bumping the other, you chould consider plugging the holes and
drilling new holes that will change the angle enough to allow for your
lever to fit.

2.  If plugging is not desirable, I would still replace the two pins with
oversized, and use a small open end wrench to tune them so as not to
disturb the neigboring one.  If you can get access to even one - tune it
second with the wrench.  Place a section of pipe over the wrench for
increased leverage.  It would be hell to tune an entire piano this way,
but two pins won't be THAT bad!

One other thought, to just "get by" the party, only bother tuning one of
the offending pins and mute off the other string.

Hope this helps...

Mark Potter
bases-loaded@juno.com

On Fri, 10 Dec 1999 12:23:40 -0500 "Piesik, John (JPIESIK)"
<JPIESIK@arinc.com> writes:
> This involves a 4 foot 8 inch, no-name grand PSO, 1920s vintage, 
> fair-poor
> condition, nice refinishing job, crummy design.
> 
> About half a dozen tuning pins are barely holding tension at A440, 2 
> pins
> aren't holding at all, and the rest are marginally holding pitch.
> 
> The 2 pins, right in the center of the keyboard, are the subject of 
> this
> email. The way the plate/block was drilled has these 2 worst 
> offending pins
> about 1/16 of an inch from each other! One of the pins string exits 
> in a
> serpentine fashion around the other pin, over its string at the 
> bottom of
> the coil, around another pin, and finally on to the hitch pin at the 
> back of
> the plate - absolutely unbelievable! Turning either of these 2 pins 
> affects
> the other! Needless to say, these are the 2 pins that won't hold 
> pitch (I
> wonder if they ever did for any length of time). No room to drive 
> them down,
> either.
> 
> I really don't want to mess with this PSO, but the poor lady paid 
> $1.5K for
> it (without having it inspected first, but she liked the finish), is 
> having
> a Christmas party on the 18th (and she calls for service only weeks 
> before),
> and, of course, her "aunt Elisa from Vienna who plays for the 
> symphony" will
> be there, and she wants the piano to be just right for the party!! 
> She's
> already out her $1500 purchase, $125 for my time during the first 
> service
> call, and whatever my charge would be to go back (if I do). Note 
> that she
> was desperate from the beginning, and still is.
> 
> My question is: Is there *anything* I can (or should) do to get just 
> the 2
> worst offending tuning pins to hold for a week or two? That's all 
> she wants.
> Does super glue work on pins that aren't holding tension at all? 
> Should I
> send her on to the yellow pages with my best wishes? I know I can't 
> win on
> this one. I didn't discover that the thing was completely untunable 
> until
> about two hours into the service call, after I'd made significant 
> action
> repairs - partly my fault for not finding out it was untunable 
> before it was
> too late. Should I send her a full or partial refund and write it 
> off as a
> loss?
> 
> Any suggestions??
> 
> Very Appreciatively,
> 
> John Piesik, RPT
> Piesik's Piano Service
> Oceanside, CA
> (760) 726-4665
> jpiesik@arinc.com
> 
> P.S. Please respond directly to me as I'm not currently subscribed 
> to the
> pianotech list. Thanks!