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

[Ron Nossaman]

>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.

Yes, this is the fault of our parts suppliers, not the part 
manufacturer. Denros are, I expect, sold to the parts 
suppliers as 7.1mm pins, and the parts suppliers sell them to 
us as 2/0. If they were labeled what they actually are, it 
would be our problem to figure out what we actually want. Look 
at Roslau wire. Being metric, it doesn't correspond to the 
gage numbers it's sold as either.


> 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.

It's easy. I make up a block by epoxying a 9mm Delignit cap on 
a low density multilam maple, double drilling 1/4" and 6.8mm. 
No bit cooling, no high precision setup, no problem. Very good 
uniformity and torque with 7.1mm Denros out of the box - no 
micing.

Ron N