Went back to see the piano with so many tuning pins torquing out above 250 inch-pounds. Was loaded for bear--drill motors, reamers, rosin in powder form and in solution, a small sledge hammer and pin-block support jack, and the like--prepared to administer every possible remedy suggested, on the list and off.
Step one was to measure and record the torque of each and every pin, eventually settling into a routine of tuning the string as best as possible with the torque wrench (!) after each measurement. Of the torque wrenches I had gathered, by far the best was the one I had acquired from Pianotek (0-250 inch/pounds). It measures in both directions (as opposed to having a ratcheting function), and allowed for surprisingly good control while tuning.
Then I tried the simplest and fastest potential remedy, Jon Page's "wrench it back and forth 20 or 30 times." I used the tightest pins to experiment, and proceeded in increments of 10 back-and-forth turns at a time. It worked! No need to try other remedies (on this piano, at least), although if I had the time, I would have tried them all, just out of curiosity.
A string broke, not at the becket, but where the wire turns to go around the pin. In the first two splice attempts, the new wire failed just as it was being brought up to pitch. On the third attempt, it was the original wire that failed. In the mean time, I removed the newish-looking, nickel-plated, 2/0 x 2 3/8" tuning pin. The size of the pin suggested that a new pin block had been installed.
Took the attached photos while the pin was out. Zoom in on the tuning pin hole. Any idea what we are looking at here (besides a sloppy stringing job, that is)?
Alan
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Alan Eder, RPT
Herb Alpert School of Music
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA
661.904.6483
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