Al~ Thanks for the "tip". A ground down screwdriver seems like a good tool for prying out beckets. Question: When prying out the beckets, do you take the coil off the tuning pin as well before backing the pin out? Or do you just leave the coil on the pin? When I have tried the latter the becket for some reason often gets caught back in the eye (hole) of the tuning pin as you spin the pin out, or sometimes tangles up in the coil, and winds the string back up the opposite direction, often snapping it before you can stop the drill. I guess that's one reason I use the becket breaker, 'cuz I don't have to pull the coil off the pin, and the becket is cut, so it can't catch. But maybe you have a way to pry the becket out and pop the coil off the pin at the same time, with the same flip of the wrist? There IS an advantage to prying beckets out: You're not stuck with all those little broken becket ends afterward that go flying all over the piano that you have to gather up with a magnet and vacuum/blow out of the pinblock holes. I'm curious what kind of tool people are using to remove tuning pins. What do you use? I've tried a bunch of different driver tools over the years. My favorite today is a Panasonic cordless model I got about 4 years ago. Diane said she got a new drill. I'm curious what it is. C'mon Diane, you can tell us! I used to use a big Makita half inch drill to back the pins out. It's a great drill, geared way down, lots of torque. Lasts forever. The problem with this drill is that even at low speeds it doesn't stop immediately, it keeps spinning for a long time after you release the trigger. So if a string catches on a pin and won't let go for whatever reason, it often winds up the reverse direction and goes bang! before the drill stops spinning. (See attached photo 619a). (Notice this is a "dummy" piano, for display purposes only! I don't usually start removing pins in the middle of a section, and I protect the case with padding) I have since invested in a couple of these Panasonic Cordless 1/2" Drills, with the big batteries. The nice thing about these is that they have regenerative braking (no kidding! -just like the new hybrid cars) and will stop almost immediately when you release the trigger. (See attached photo 620a) So not only does this help you keep from snapping strings if they wind up the wrong way on the pin, it also makes it easier to put the extractor tip on the next pin without chewing it up 'cause the drill hasn't stopped turning and you don't want wait 10 seconds for it to stop. (-which was the problem with the Makita. -Like I say, even at slow speeds. -Even with variable speed.) How long does the battery on the Panasonic last, you ask? Well, on some pianos I've removed all the pins in a piano on one charge. (But not if they are REAL tight: a Baldwin, for example, would probably go through an extra battery, or two.) These cordless drivers are pretty amazing. But SUPER tight pins, I think maybe I would still use the Makita. It costs less than the Panasonics to replace, and I don't think it would ever burn out. I try to back the pins out slowly enough so they don't feel too hot to the touch, so I'm not burning the pinblock holes. Of course for the most control, and the least expense, you can go with the manual transmission ;-). (see photo 612a) That is, if you have lots of elbow grease. For the car mechanics among us, you don't even have to buy a special tool. You probably already have this one in your car tool kit. Of course, it takes quite a bit more muscle... (See photo 627a) I even tried a pneumatic driver for a while in my younger days (see last photo, 629a) but it was too hard to control. Tended to spin the pins too fast, and often they wouldn't back out completely as with the slower drills. Some guys just love them though, and use them all the time. What's everyone else using? -Just curious. ~Kendall Ross Bean PianoFinders www.pianofinders.com <http://www.pianofinders.com/> e-mail: kenbean at pianofinders.com Connecting Pianos and People -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080708/7e277a1d/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: P6080629a.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 123608 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080708/7e277a1d/attachment-0005.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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