[pianotech] snapping pins

[Delwin D Fandrich]

My experience is similar to Ron's. I've never had any snapping pins as a
result of swabbing tuning pin holes with epoxy. Seems to be a valid repair
in cases where replacing the pinblock is simply not going to happen. 

ddf

Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Design & Fabrication
6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA
Phone  360.515.0119 — Cell  360.388.6525
del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2012 9:06 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] snapping pins

On 3/31/2012 9:35 PM, Leslie Bartlett wrote:
> I quit tuning a ‘30’s Kimball baby grand which if I moved the pin in 
> mid-range enough to go +- 20 cents the pins would crack up to half a 
> dozen times. EVERY pin was that way. Block was not replaced and a 
> highly respected local rebuilder said the guy has simply swabbed epoxy 
> on the holes, so ruined everything. He also did some other stupid
things

..
> Refinished piano, with veneer on lid beginning to come loose, not 
> fixing the problem, of course. But I digress. The issue is the pins

 
> What would cause the swabbing of holes with epoxy (pins seem to be 
> original
> size) cause different response than wicking CA down into the holes? I 
> may be smart enough that I have some idea, but am caught in a conundrum.
> Several years ago I knocked out about 3 pin-sleeves out of sever holes 
> on an old piano. I then filled the holes with epoxy, then redrilled 
> them and those five holes were very nicely tight, turned smoothly, and 
> had none of the cracking/snapping I experienced today. I have no real 
> experience for dealing with this, and would appreciate help.

I've epoxied two blocks with restring, long ago, because they just weren't
possibly going to be paid for to be replaced, and I didn't trust them with
oversized pins. Both tuned very nicely. I see no reason epoxy would make
pins snap, unless it was poorly mixed and rolled thread pins were used. I
also don't have a suggestion for a dependable fix short of replacing the
block. How about finding out from the actual perpetrator instead of the
inevitable "highly respected local rebuilder" diagnosing after the fact,
what was actually done to the block? Sometimes real information provides
real answers that someone's passing opinion (guess) doesn't.
Ron N