Post by FAQ's » Wed Jun 09, 2004 7:50 pm
This is a procedure that is deemed as very controversial by many piano tuners. What happens is a piano's pin block the piece of wood into which the tuning pins are driven that the tuner adjusts, becomes so loose that a piano cannot be tuned.
In a good many cases, the recommended procedure would be to rebuild the piano. This necessitates in most cases, restringing, and repining with larger pins. However, this is a lengthy and expensive process.
In some cases, the piano isn't worth restoring or rebuilding. This is a decision that must be worked out between the technician, and the piano owner. In some cases, a piano may be deemed not to be worth rebuilding, but due to sentimental reasons, the customer requires that this task is done. But, where this isn't the case, a "quick fix" is the use of a substance called "Pin tightener" In the case where the pin block has become too loose to support a tuning, the wood has dried out around the pin. So, the technician may elect to add a solution of glycerine, and water. This solution causes the pin block to attract moisture and make the pin hold the tuning.
An alternative is to use Cyanoacrylate Glue. This method can also be used to good effect; however, proper ventilation is required when using Cyanoacrylate Glue is used and care must be taken not to get it on the strings. Hopefully, the end result is a tunable instrument. The downside of this procedure is that the pin block or wrest plank can't be used for repining. But, in some cases, it may add a few more years to the life of an old instrument.
Robin Foster MABPT
- Dear Mr. Robin Foster,
I sincerely thank you for your thoughts expressed in your letter 20 years ago. I found them so important that I could not help but respond to it. The issue of strengthening the pinblock is a matter that many aforists are occupied with, but when it comes to using wooden shims and replacing larger diameter pins, these methods are not without problems, as you noted. Nonetheless, there is an interesting method of strengthening with cardboard that was suggested by Max, which, although not infallible, has shown positive results in practice and may be a variant for consideration.
I hope this information will be useful to you and I would like to once again express my gratitude for your invaluable contribution to the preservation and restoration of our historical musical heritage.
Sincerely,
Max
