I have an old (1919 according to the Pierce Atlas)Williams and Sons studio upright that I am learning to tune and service, mostly for fun and interest. I previously posted in the Piano Forum about my goal to use this piano to travel to ragtime and dixieland gigs where they hire me but don't have a piano. I have the trailer, the fee schedule, and now just have to get the piano in shape.

Disclaimer: I promise I will never try to do my own work on my grands - I leave that for the professionals!!!

Anyway, some of the bass strings really don't hold a tuning for more than three or four songs. The pinblock looks OK, so I hope it isn't a complete structural disaster.

I bought some pin-tite pin block restorer to try and tighten things up.

While I have the piano on its back, should I treat every pin, or just the ones that are giving me trouble? I don't relish the thought of turning the piano flat, then back upright, then finding out that there are another couple of pins I should have treated. But, on the other hand, if treating every pin is bad for those pins that are OK, I imagine I don't want to do that.

Thanks for the advise.

Steve

You can get a pin setter and use a 2 lb sledge to tap the pins farther into the block if there is room. look at the space between the wire coil and the plate or block. don't bottom them out. I would use a bit of CA glue (the really thin stuff) rather than the pin-tite. careful of the fumes.

I'd treat every pin. Use Super thin CA glue - that's our present day fix for loose pins. You can get it at the hobby store. I hook up a fan to blow the fumes away from me, and I also wear goggles and a chemical cartridge type mask. You will need a work light or flashlight as well.

Thanks - I have my weekend project all ready to go now.....

Steve

Some hints:

Use good quality glue. The stuff available in hardware/homecenter stores has additives to lengthen the shelf life. Look for a good hobby shop and get the 1/2 - 1 oz. size. Bob Smith is a good brand, or Hot Stuff.

A little goes a long way. It will wick into cracks, so do a couple of passes - you shouldn't need to goop it in too heavy. If you can, leave it tipped so you don't get glue running down to the strings. Check a couple of strings in a few hours and add a bit more, if needed.

This works best with some humidity in the air, so it should be a good time for you to do it!

I'd skip pounding the pins - but that's just me.

I posted the following 2 years ago. It may be heplful:

In addition to being a former tech, I'm also a competitive epee fencer. CA glue is used for maintenance there too. I posted the following on RMMP awhile back when the subject came up there. (Hi Rick!)

Begin Excerpt:
Just a word of caution on CA glues: Be careful of the fumes.

Last week I was rewiring a bunch of epee blades and had a moderate and slightly scary reaction to the glue fumes. The basic procedure involves running a pair of very thin(28 ga) cloth insulated wires from the tip(basically a specialized spring loaded contact switch) down a shallow V shaped channel on the blade to be connected to a recepticle behind the bellguard. A very thin bead of glue is then run along the wires and if necessary any excess is cleaned up with a Q-tip. The blade is then slightly arched in a jig and let to dry.

The glue in question was Slo-Jet, a slow drying medium viscosity CA glue. I was working in a well ventilated area, near a window with an exhaust fan going. After about two hours of work (6 or 7 blades) I began having difficulty breathing. It felt like there was something very heavy on my chest. It took about 4 hours to subside. It turned out that it was a reaction to the fumes of the CA glue and that this is a known reaction that happens to some people after a certain level of exposure.

If you are going to use CA glue for an application where there may be broad exposure to fumes, like soaking a soundboard or pinblock, it makes sense to take precautions and to pay attention to symptoms. Another symptom is itchy or burning eyes.

End Excerpt

Using CA glue as a wood conditioner to improve a pinblock is a very interesting technique that wasn't available to us when I was working as a tech. CA glue is a very useful, versitile substance that is finding applications in many areas beyond its original intentions. I've found that if I make sure that the ventilation is good, use the bare minimum (a good idea anyway in wiring blades), and take a break immediately if I feel my eyes itch, I don't get the reaction mentioned above.

I used little hardwood, and I introduce in to the hole, to be able to tighten the pins.....but that to use the CA glue...I do not understand

Question:
Where exactly do you put the glue. all around the pin, or just one spot. After it is dry, wouldnt the pins be glued in place. I never tried it. But I have tried to separe things stuck together with CA glue...NOT!!!

Cut the spout on the super glue bottle so the hole in the tip is very small. Generally, the plate is not level. Test a pin or two and see which direction the glue runs, and apply the glue on the "uphill" side of the pin, right down by the bushing. The glue will then run all the way around the pin and into the block.

Pins in the tenor might be very close together, requiring you to put the nozzle of the super glue on the top of the pin, or on the side of the pin. The glue then runs down the pin over the coils, and into the pinblock.

I pull the piano to pitch before applying the glue, then tune immediatly after application. The pins do stick a bit the first time you move them - but at least they hold tight.

Please......How I can know if the Pinblock has the correct hardness?.......is there a measurement for this?....

Thanks Bob...

Another odd question,

Had a R.Lipp 6'1",..about 1890's...Tech tapped down a few pins...never looked....He had one that was still bad, so he drove it some more...and DROVE it through the bottom...thus putting a split in the pinblock....(It was a "blind" pinblock...!)

Thats, the main reason I sold it, as I hadn't the money to re-build, and the guy who wanted it did...I wanted to know it was re-built, rather than destroyed...It was, in fact, completed..

Any thread on these pinblocks, and how common, and useful were they in history? What was the intent of a blind pinblock?

My Regards, John