Pinblock too low

[Paul Chick (EarthLink)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike and Jane Spalding" <mjbkspal@execpc.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 5:50 PM
Subject: Pinblock too low


> List,
>
> Today I was asked to examine a "rebuilt" piano and figure out why it plays
so poorly.  Knabe small grand from mid-1920's.  It was obvious just sitting
at the kyboard an playing a little, that the damper timing was way uneven,
and drop was way low.  Thought the solution would be failry straightforward.
Then I pulled the action, which did not slide out easily, and saw the
pinblock hanging 1/4" below the stretcher, and the furrows ploughed
(plowed?) by the drop screws.  OK, now we know why the last guy didn't
regulate the drop.  Obviously got to make some room to raise the drop
screws.  Shanks are original, so I might gain something by bolstering
knuckles, but probably not enough.  I could go in there with a disk sander
and grind some off the bottom of the pinblock, but I'd prefer not to inflict
the noise and mess on the customer's living room.  Anyone else ever faced
this situation, and found a neat (i.e. reasonably clean and quiet) solution?
>
> thanks
>
> Mike Spalding, RPT
>

Mike
 I was called out on one like you describe a few years ago.  The customer
was aware of the problem with the pinblock and asked to "do something" so it
played right.  The solution was to chisal one or two of  the layers off the
bottom of the pinblock.  Luckily the tuning pins did not interfere.  The
noise was tolerable, the mess minimal, and some careful planing and scraping
left the block smooth and even.  Regulation was the easy part.

Paul Chick