[pianotech] Broken Tuning Pin

[David Love]

I think what I would do would be to first run a thin drill alongside the
broken pin through the tuning pin bushing and out the back of the piano as a
guide.  Then take a larger drill  (say a 1/2" drill) and drill through the
back of the piano until you contact the bottom of the tuning pin.  Then
drive the pin out from the back using a punch and a sledge or a piece of
brass stock as the punch slightly hollowing out the tip so it will set
against the bottom of the pin without slipping.  You don't really need to
drive it all the way out, just enough to be able to grab it with something
but you might be able to drive it through anyway.  Once out you can plug the
1/2" hole with whatever your material of choice is, ream the old tuning pin
hole and replace with the appropriate size.  I think that would work.    

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of barbara at pitchperfectpianos.com
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:45 PM
To: PTG
Subject: [pianotech] Broken Tuning Pin

Hello list, 

I have a small, rural church that has a Kimball Artist Console. They had a
piano tuner restring the bass notes some 6 or more years ago with super
tight oversized pins. I can barely budge these pins to tune. Anyway, the
tuner happened to break off one of the pins during installation and just
left it that way, never bothering to come back and service the piano
afterwards. 

The church has now been a good customer of mine for 4 years. But every time
I go to tune the Kimball, the gentleman always asks me if there is anything
to be done about the broken pin. 

It is broken off too far that a tuning pin extractor will not fit on it, and
there is no way a pair of vice grips will grab hold either. I've read that
you can drill through the pinblock to fish out the pin from a side angle,
but both the church and I are not too keen on the idea. 

As you can see from the picture, I've pulled the string over and put a
different damper on it so that the string does dampen properly. I'm not
really planning on doing the repair as the piano is what it is and the small
church is content with it. But mainly, both my customer and I are curious as
to if there is anything that can be done at all.  Thanks!

Barbara Nobbe, RPT
Pitch Perfect
859-489-4793
barbara at pitchperfectpianos.com