Nature of tuning pins, and miking sets, shop made blocks.

[Kendall Ross Bean]

Jon~
 
Thanks for the excellent info. 
 
One funny thing someone wrote that I read recently was: when you expect to
be able to mike the pins and find different sizes for bass to treble, the
Diamond pins, because of their consistency, will not provide you this
variety! (ha ha!)
 
But honestly, who among us wants to have to mike every pin? 
 
On the other hand, we shouldn't always just assume that we are getting what
we are told. We do need to check up on parts quality, at least from time to
time. I do mike samples from the sets of pins I use. If they seem
consistent, I don't mike them all. If they seem inconsistent, or if I find
in the process of stringing that some seem looser than others, or feel
funny, I usually find myself miking a lot more of them before I put them in.
The fact that Denros seem to run .002" smaller than specified is also
something I have observed. Sometimes it works out fine, other times I wish
the pin were what they say it is. Time is money, and we do depend a lot on
our parts suppliers to provide uniform, acceptable parts that we don't have
to mess around with.
 
When you say shop-made 1/4-sawn blocks, does that mean you make them up from
scratch? Glue them up and all? That's admirable. (But a lot of work, isn't
it? Wouldn't it just be easier to go with a Bolduc block? Or have you found
some inconsistencies, like with tuning pins? ;-). You must have some very
accurate woodworking machines: planers, table saws, and a nice clamping
press. What kind of glue would you use, that wouldn't cause the oxide rings
on the tuning pin threads?
 
I haven't tried making my own pinblocks, or tuning pins yet; although I know
it's possible.
 
When I had to work on some of the  Weiler pianos from St. Petersburg that
were coming in during the 1990s, I discovered a lot of the pins would break
on some pianos. The pins did not look very consistent in quality, and I
ultimately found out from the rep that they made the tuning pins up
themselves at the piano factory from the spools of thick "tuning pin wire",
and hand swaged them, etc. Some of the pianos had to have all the pins
removed and new Denro or higher quality pins installed, under warranty,
because of the tuning pin breakage issue.
 
~Kendall Ross Bean
PianoFinders
www.pianofinders.com <http://www.pianofinders.com/> 
e-mail: kenbean at pianofinders.com
 
Connecting Pianos and People
 
We concluded that it works better on paper than it does on wood." 
    - A company that had just built a prototype of a new woodworking tool
from the inventor's plans.

  _____  

From: Jon Page [mailto:jonpage at comcast.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 2:44 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Nature of tuning pins


? Hi Kendall
? Our pin of choice are Blued, Diamond brand pins. On occasions we use the
Japanese pins.? The difference for us is that the Diamond Blued pins clearly
have a cut thread that is not blued over & they are far more consistent in
true size.? The Nippon Denro typically run on average .002 smaller than the
stated size, which can be a good thing when repinning an original block that
doens't need a true sized pin.? They also make a 3 1/2 size pin.? Nifty aye?
? The diamond nickel /chrome plated pins appear to have had the threads cut
& then plated?over which I dislike & don't trust this though I ahve used
them at one time.
? For my Shop made 1/4 cut maple blocks I've had the best uniform fit from
the Diamond made pins.
? For years Trix miked all the pins in a set & put the largest in the bass &
smallest in the trebles. Finding something truly round is about as
consistent as finding something truly straight.? Just try running a
micrometer on a few sets and on differing points on the pin & you'll see.
It's a good thing wood is pliable & forgiving.
?? My friends once had a set of the Diamond that was oblong/out of round?but
to my knowledge this was the only one we've ever heard of. This anomaly
occurred during the time when we mic'd every pin... every set.? ughh.? SO
diamonds are? more expensive but not when you consider we don't mic pins
very often anymore?& they are as reliable as any we've tried
??

?regards
-- 

Regards,

Jon Page
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