Tuning pin choice

[Ron Nossaman]

>FWIW, I have used the Diamond. I bought them BECAUSE they were more 
>expensive (the standard theory being that I will screw up enough, might as 
>well use the best materials - that might make up for some of my work). Not 
>knowing which pins where like what, I was just hoping they were a little 
>bit better in some way. I found that they varied in diameter over a few 
>thousandths - so you need to mic them. I wonder if the threads are any 
>different - as advertised - and somehow grip the wood better, or feel 
>better, or the finish is better. Maybe they are better balanced for all 
>you high-speed tuners!
>
>Terry Farrell

Dynamic balance! Hadn't thought of that. That must be it. Probably very 
shiny too. I don't know that cleanly cut threads are particularly 
beneficial, and I know over a few thousandths variation in diameter isn't. 
I started using those snarly threaded Denros shortly after I switched from 
the multi-lam rotary cut block to Delignit. I mic'd a few sets, and found 
them much more uniform than the smooth and clean threaded Fly and APSCO 
pins I had used previously. Double drilling the Delignit then indicated to 
me that my previous drilling technique was considerably more responsible 
for torque variations than were pin differences in the Denros. So I don't 
mic the Denros anymore and still get better torque uniformity than I ever 
did with the old block/drill technique/pin combination. That's good enough 
for me, for now, until something about it offends me or I find something 
else I like better.

Of course, the dynamic balance probably isn't as good as it could be, but 
those perfect $400 tunings ought to take over 19 minutes anyway, and 
anything under a 1/4 turn of the pin shouldn't set up any destructive 
cumulative system resonance.

But then I could be wrong.

Case (as it were) in point: You know how grands wobble, sometimes 
alarmingly,  when you're tuning them. Each grand, depending on it's mass 
and leg stiffness, has it's own wobble impedance and resonance (with that 
of the propped lid being somewhat different from the rest of the piano). As 
tuners, we (at least I ) time our lurches on the tuning lever to minimize, 
rather than reinforce, these wobble excursions. If we "tuned" our moves to 
the resonant frequency of the wobble, we could quite likely bring a piano 
to it's (and our) knees without breaking a sweat. To assess the 
contribution of the dynamic balance of the tuning pins to this system would 
require extensive lab facilities, an outrageously large grant, and more 
than a few cases of a good wheat beer.

Meanwhile, we press on with the supplies available and do what we can.

Ron N