Supporting the pinblock

[Farrell]

Hi Clyde. You won't find me claiming to be much of an authority on very many
things, but golly gosh, I know what I am talking about regarding a pinblock
support. I thought just like you did...........until my last stringing job.
I plugged the 70 year old pinblock with 1/2" pinblock plugs, epoxied in. I
was careful to move the support along - always keeping it under the pounding
zone.......until I got to the last few bass pins. "No need to move the
support those last few inches" I thought "Gosh, the support is just a few
inches from the case side where the pinblock sits on a nice hard maple
shelf" (that I made myself, mind you!). So I went ahead and pounded the last
few bass pins without moving the support directly below where I was pounding
(actually I did this one with my air hammer).

No problem.

Until I tried to put the action in. Seems the opening at the bass end shrunk
a bit. Looked closer and was able to see that I had indeed pounded off the
bottom layer or so of pinblock. Kinda nasty looking, but action finally went
in and pins are tight.

Next time I'll move the support!

Terry Farrell
Pinblock Support Moving Expert!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2001 7:32 AM
Subject: Supporting the pinblock


> OK, so I am learning something here, maybe.  I always thought I needed to
> support the pinblock because the stress of pounding in the strings might
break
> something.  Consequently, I didn't think it was necessary to position the
> support directly under where I was pounding; nearby was good enough.  Is
> delamination the real threat here?  So far I haven't had any problems, but
I
> want to be sure to *keep* it that way.
>
> Regards, Clyde
>
> John Ross wrote:
>
> > Hi Dave,
> > If you replace the pins with oversize, be sure and support the pinblock
from
> > below, to prevent delamination.
>