Pin Torque minimum standard?

[Stan Kroeker]

Bill,

Thanks for sharing your opinion on this subject.  I fully agree that
there are pianos which may hold stable tuning with pins well below 50
inchpounds.  I simply wish to establish a standard (many standards,
actually for all aspects of our work) which takes all guesswork out of
the process of evaluating a piano's condition.  If it is fair to say
that new or properly restored pianos tune in the vicinity of 120
inchpounds, most people are suitably concerned when you demonstrate
torque readings at or below 50.

These pianos are typically 30 plus years old, so it shouldn't come as a
great surprise that deterioration may have taken place.  One analogy
that comes to mind is the use of electronic temp/humidity guages to take
readings in clients' homes.  I don't care if these guages (the
electronic ones) are accurate to plus or minus 5% or 10%.  They do a
great job of identifying damaging trends in the climate surrounding the
piano (at least up here in the arctic ... er ... I mean the frozen
Canadian prairie ... brrr ... minus 32 C this week!) and are helpful in
selling Dampp Chasers.

Best regards to all!

Stan Kroeker
Registered Piano Technician

> Bill Simon wrote:
>
> I think 50 inch pounds as a minimum standard is far too high and is unfair to
> customers who, had they called another tuner, might not even have been
> apprised of a "problem" needing repair.
> 
> I feel most pianos will easily stay in tune at the 50 in/lbs reading, or 40
> in/lbs, or 30 in/lbs. I have many customers whose pianos stay in tune at 20
> in/lbs, but at 20 they are on the edge of the cliff.