I have found the discussion of Pin-Tite of great interest as I have a friend whose wrest-plank (sorry, 'pin block') needs attention. Many pins are becoming looser and tunings do not hold well. The piano is old, and fairly ordinary, and not worth restoring fully; so Pin-Tite has its attractions. I ha...

•Recently Pintite has been touted on this list as a great pin driving fluid and the answer to pinblocks with loose tuning pins. The primary reason given for this endorsement has been Pintite's stated unique chemical composition. The secondary reason given has been personal experience with said produ...

•Electronic tuning aids can be purchased from Lark in the Morning, which also carries loads of musical instruments, music, musical paraphernalia, and even mechanical instruments - an imported organ taking punched rolls. You can browse the catalog on-line at: http:// www.mhs.mendocino.k12.ca.us/MenCo...

•From the book, "Piano", by David Crombie; there are two photographs with this caption: "Dulcitone by Thomas Machell & Sons, Glasgow, c.1920." "The 'Dulcitone' was invented by Thomas Machell in 1860, although not perfected until 1880. It is usually described as a 'tuning-fork' instrument. This five-...

•Hi All, First off, tuning by ear can be very painful. ;-) Having started with just one tuning fork light-years ago, I believe that learning the beat rates and relationships between the various intervals is very important to good piano tuning. It doesn't take long to realize that what 'works' on one...

•[ I hope our skilled piano tuners will comment on tuning by beats [ versus using a machine. Can the machine properly stretch the [ tuning for the best results with different piano designs? [ -- Robbie I no longer consider myself a skilled piano tuner because I no longer do it every day but I have s...

•It's an old question: is it possible to tune a piano, using an electronic tuner. Well, it's just a matter of how good one's ears are trained. In my younger days I had to train my ears for a couple of years (almost 5), before I could call myself a piano-tuner. More important: before my employer want...

•How about the morning the tuner was called to the local college to tune a piano. It turns out the piano was in the lobby of a dormitory across the street from our shop. Like all "cool" tuners, our piano tuner wore sunglasses most of the time. He started tuning the piano and one by one the residents...

•In tuning loud instruments, one should keep in mind listening to loud organ pipes play for extended periods eventually will take it's toll on one's hearing. In tuning Band Organs, I use ear protectors similar to those that are available for using chain saws, and other noisy equipment. Even with the...

•Hi all, The thread on tuning fires me up as usual. It seems to me that any artificial device, whether an electronic box, or a computer microphone feeding into software, has considerable limitations. I have tried one program, and from experience find that it can only tune one string at a time. This ...

•Roger Waring wrote in MMDigest 981105: > It seems to me that any artificial device, whether an electronic box, > or a computer microphone feeding into software, has considerable > limitations. I have tried one program, and from experience find that > it can only tune one string at a time. This ther...

•Rob Goodale writes enthusiastically about two high-end (price-wise) electronic tuners. Are these designed solely for use in tuning stringed instruments or could they equally well tune wind-blown instruments (band organs)? Or is the nature of the band organ forgiving enough that investment in such h...

•[ Ref. MMD 981129 "Peterson Autostrobe Stretch Profiles" ] The question the Mike Haydon asks is one that has no one answer as pianos are not all the same and the amount of stretch in the tuning on one piano probably won't be the same on the next piano. The 'stretch' required will depend on the cond...

•In response to Joyce's comments regarding the stability of tunings, let me add that the technique of the tuner has a lot to do with it. Having started tuning in the mid-sixties I've had some experience with pianos of many sorts. In some cases I've been called in to retune a piano that had been tune...

•I just had my Haines baby Ampico restrung, and new Able light hammers installed. The job was nicely done, but the tuning pins are ever-so- tight! About three pins jump when I try to tune, and the rest are so tight that I nearly bend my tuning wrench, and it is nearly impossible to get the unisons i...

•Bruce Clark was worried about overly tight pins. This can sometimes happen, particularly when a new pin plank is drilled and then left for a month or two before stringing. Another problem can be drilling with an undersized drill bit. The danger can be to twist off the pins themselves. They will bre...

•A couple of ideas for your tight pins. Pull the pin and apply a liberal dose of powered chalk (chalk dust) in the hole and on the pin. Another solution: supply houses sell pin block reamers that size the hole for a particular sized pin. Put the reamer in a electric drill motor and run it in the hol...

•Removing 225 tuning pins to correct the torque is a _huge_ job for an amateur and I would not recommend it. There are many tricky aspects to getting all the pins and strings back on working properly and looking perfect. I have yet to see a reasonable first-time effort. If the torque does not come d...

•Hi all, a real quick price comparison. In 1960 my mother paid the piano tuner $14.00 for a tuning in California. Using this URL: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi My current price of $72.00 for piano tuning was $1.56 too _low_ in 1998. Interesting, John A. Tuttle

•Regarding the comments by Andy Taylor: If I ever saw a piano with the pins pounded in I'd head in the opposite direction. Loose pins can be dealt with in one of a couple of ways. One way when the problem in not severe it to position the piano so that the pin block is horizontal and use pin block tr...