Pinblocks - Good & Bad

[Mike and Jane Spalding]

Ron,

Very interesting avenue you're going dow - I hope you'll keep us informed as you get more experience.  What's your source for 9mm delignit?  Or do you re-saw from standard pinblock stock?  .250 seems a little small for 2/0 pins - are you using 1/0?  Or are you shooting for very high initial torque so that it will relax to a tunable torque after time?

thanks

Mike Spalding RPT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ron Nossaman <RNossaman@cox.net>
To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: Pinblocks - Good & Bad


> 
> >Anyone interested in the perfect pinblock? I am.
> 
> Sure, or at least pretty darn good one.
> 
> 
> >Where price is not a concern, to the best of my knowledge, the 
> >quarter-sawn, 5-ply, hard maple Bolduc pinblock and perhaps the 
> >many-laminate, rotary(?)-cut, European Beach Delignite pinblock are 
> >considered two of the best. Are there others in this class?
> 
> That's two classes, with different characteristics, and there's the rub.
> 
> 
> >Bolduc - strong points - excellent tuning feel. What else is good about 
> >the Bolduc block?
> 
> ?
> 
> 
> >Bolduc - weak points - lack strength in no-plate-bushings applications - 
> >tuning pin can work forward. Is that true? Any other weak points?
> 
> I haven't used them, but that's the case with similar blocks I see in 
> existing pianos.
> 
> 
> >Delignite - strong points - strong, resists pin migration in 
> >no-plate-bushings applications, resists tuning characteristic changes with 
> >humidity fluctuations.
> 
> Yup.
> 
> 
> >  Other good points?
> 
> ?
> 
> 
> >Delignite - weak points - drilling critical to get appropriate torque.
> 
> Yup.
> 
> 
> >Do they last as long - perhaps pins will loosen faster with such a rigid 
> >block?
> 
> They seem to last as long or longer, since the pins don't migrate and 
> deform the hole.
> 
> 
> >Thanks for any input.
> >
> >Terry Farrell
> 
> I don't personally see any compelling benefit to the Bolduc or Steinway 
> type block. While they are a nice feeling and very forgiving block, I think 
> they're too soft to keep the pin from migrating with the string tension. 
> Delignit resists pin migration well, but is pretty unforgiving of drilling 
> variance. Even though my two bit approach helps a lot there, it was 
> developed as a workaround of this problem. The cheap rotary cut blocks are 
> both forgiving of drilling variance, and can give a good feel, but aren't 
> as resistant to pin migration as Delignit. Something in between should be 
> pretty close to ideal. So I've decided to try to split the difference 
> between feel, forgiveness, and firmness, with a hybrid. I made up some test 
> samples of blocks using a body of the cheap rotary cut block, with a layer 
> of Delignit laminated on top. The idea is to get the benefit of the 
> resilience of the rotary cut down in the block, with the support and pin 
> migration resistance of the Delignit at the top. I tried 6mm, 9mm, and 12mm 
> Delignit laminations, as well as a control sample of just the standard 
> block. Driving pins into 0.25" holes that would normally be used in just 
> the standard block, I find that the 6mm is pretty much the same feel as the 
> standard block. The 9mm isn't significantly tighter, bit it is a little, 
> while having that much more top support. The 12mm laminated sample was 
> considerably tighter, and there is more difference in torque from pin to 
> pin than in any of the other configurations. Double drilling would most 
> likely have evened this out some, but part of what I was looking for was 
> idiot resistance in use, so I drilled everything in one pass. At this 
> point, I like the 9mm lamination best, and I expect I'll use it in a piano 
> soon unless something I find in further testing changes my mind.
> 
> It seems like a fair split between the best of both worlds.
> 
> Ron N
> 
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