Two Loose Pins

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Hi John,
You might consider the following if you do not want to use wood shims, sand
paper or any other method that requires the removal of the tuning tin etc.
Using the thinnest CA and a fresh bottle for sure, treat both pins and pull
the string that is least accessable up to pitch and treat with
a drop of accelarator. Next pull the other string up as quickly as you can
and use the drop of activator on that pin.
The reason for this is that in working with overly loose pins if you do need
to use another repair hopefully it will be the pin that you can get to
easiest.
Be prepaired to treat more than once as in moving the pin will cause the pin
torque to loosen.
When the pin stands at pitch, treat a last time and add no activator!
If you tune this piano again be prepaired to tap the pin to loosen it prior
to tuning
Joe Goss
----- Original Message -----
From: Piesik, John (JPIESIK) <JPIESIK@arinc.com>
To: Pianotech Post Msg (E-mail) <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 8:23 AM
Subject: Two Loose Pins


> 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!
>