Hi David, The plate you describe was called a uniplate or something of that nature. They can be a bear to tune if the pins are too tight. While loose pins are easy to fix by tightening the wedge in the hole. No CA needed for this <G>. Usually they hold pitch quite well. Joe Goss imatunr@srvinet.com www.mothergoosetools.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Foster" <pno2nr@hotmail.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 5:38 PM Subject: Pinblock? WHAT pinblock? > List, > > I tuned an interesting piano today, a 30's vintage tiny Wurlitzer grand. > When the customer said it had been rebuilt after a fire in the 60's, I > reached inside to see if I could feel whether the original block had been > replaced. To my astonishment, there was no block! The tuning pins look > normal from the top, but are stubby, ending just below the plate webbing. > Also, they are slotted on the bottom and each one has a thin steel wedge > driven up into the slot. I could not see any bushing of any sort between > the tuning pins and plate holes, but if there was anything there, it was > very, very thin. > > The piano actually tuned very well. The feel of the pins during tuning was > quite different and unique. Torque was high and surprisingly uniform from > pin to pin, but there was no jumpiness at all. When I exerted enough effort > to get the pin moving, it would turn slowly and smoothly, a kind of molasses > feeling. The act of settling the pin after tuning a string was hardly > needed. It worked only within the narrowest of ranges anyway. > > Does anyone out there have any experience or knowledge of this piano? It > was refinished and had some other minor work done in a large piano repair > shop in Detroit in the 60's. Did Wurlitzer actually manufacture this as a > option at one time, or is this piano experimental? I could not find a > serial number anywhere. > > Dave Foster > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. >
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