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Hi all,

Im new to this forum.

7 months ago I purchased a little used yet well maintained 1928 cable baby grand piano (4' 6") that was rebuilt with a brand new pinblock and new hammers in the early 1980s. Cosmetically it's flawless, but it already has some issues.

When I looked at it, the piano was in somewhat great tune, and the woman said she hasn't had it tuned for about a year, and for $600 I couldn't pass. I spoke with the PTG who has been tuning the piano for several years, and he said it was a really great quality piano, but it needs some action work (nothing specified)

The action is missing basically all weights (theres a few left but swollen to crumbles)

Long story short, I had it tuned and voiced by the tuner (Has been in the field 50 years and whom i trust and have known many years) 4 months ago. when he got to the midrange, He said the pins are fairly loose and are having trouble getting them into place, and he had to treat it with pintite. The piano sounded beautiful. until about a month later, that is. One string on G4 went out of tune (the other 2 are still in unison) and gradually, the same exact thing happened on a couple other notes in the same range. Now, the bass strings are in perfect tune (As are the high notes) but there are many notes in the midrange that sound awful and I'm forced to mute off the individual notes that are out of tune .

Does this mean my pinblock is going bad? Did the pintite make it even worse?

Hello and welcome to Piano World!

It sounds like some of the tuning pins in the mid-range are definitely slipping.

The good news is that you didn't spend a lot of money on the piano... the bad news is, the tuning pins are not going to get any tighter on their own.

I don't really know much about the tuning pin tightener chemicals, but I did use the CA glue (liquid super glue) to treat the tuning block on an old upright, and it worked pretty well. However, if the tech treated the tuning pins already, they should be holding to some extent, unless you have a cracked pin block.

At this point, I'd try the CA glue on all the tuning pins and hope for the best. That should not be very expensive.

Oh, and I'd suggest getting a decent tuning hammer and learn how to clean up some of those wayward unisons yourself.

I don't think I'd spend a lot of money on the piano... $600 bucks is about the cost of a quickie weekend vacation out of town, so you're not out that much money at this point.

Good luck and keep us informed!!!

Rick

Is it common for a pinblock to crack just after 30 years? I read the instructions online when I was researching, and you're supposed to wait 20 min before tuning the pins, yet he started tuning it right away....

Maybe I should have him come and tune it again and see what happens.... It's an absolutely beautiful piano with the typical sweet early 20th century tone to it and I would hate to get rid of it...

What about the action? is it possible to just stick weights into the existing holes or would that throw off the whole regulation? It is pretty stiff, but it actually helps my finger strength ! (But its pretty hard to play anything below piano without una corda, which is annoying)

I agree with Rick on trying the cyanoacrylate. Pull the action out first, and line the action cavity with sheet plastic or newspaper or whatever, just in case any drips through. Most important, get the lowest viscosity CA you can find, the kind that runs like water.

The CA might not work on the pins that were treated with an older chemical. Your tech may be able to put larger diameter pins in those holes.

BTW, when you get the action out, take a look at the underside of the block, just in case there's some visible damage....