Pianotech

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

Original Message------

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

Original Message------

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

Have you considered using the Lo-Torq tuning pins instead of the regular oversized?

------------------------------
John Formsma, RPT
New Albany MS
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 16:18
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

I like the Lo-Torq pins too.

Pwg

------------------------------
Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 20:02
From: John Formsma
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

Have you considered using the Lo-Torq tuning pins instead of the regular oversized?

------------------------------
John Formsma, RPT
New Albany MS

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 16:18
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

Thanks for everyone’s responses.

Peter, when you install the Lo-Torq pins, do you ream, or not at all?

Joe


Original Message------

I like the Lo-Torq pins too.

Pwg

------------------------------
Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
------------------------------

Joe,

Generally not. I have accidentally overdone it enough times that I don't anymore. And since they come in .5 sizes I can step up or down as needed with ease.

Pwg

------------------------------
Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-06-2020 15:08
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

Thanks for everyone's responses.

Peter, when you install the Lo-Torq pins, do you ream, or not at all?

Joe


Original Message------

I like the Lo-Torq pins too.

Pwg

------------------------------
Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message------

Have you considered using the Lo-Torq tuning pins instead of the regular oversized?

------------------------------
John Formsma, RPT
New Albany MS
------------------------------

Hi Joe,

My restringing guy usually reams the holes if he's keeping the pin block. He uses a gun barrel cleaner attachment in a drill. Once in, once out. It works very well. The block is usually very even afterwards. 

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
Piano Technician / Artisan
(805) 315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 16:18
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

Benjamin Sanchez said…
"My restringing guy usually reams the holes if he's keeping the pin block. He uses a gun barrel cleaner attachment in a drill. Once in, once out. It works very well. The block is usually very even afterwards."

As I understand it, reaming (if done accurately) scours the walls of the tuning pin hole for those "pits" where what was once a solid wall has had some micro-chunks turn into sawdust. (You can see this sawdust on the original pins.) But to be done accurately it should be held by a machine.

Just as effective is the gun barrel brush (7.62mm, as I remember). I do use that when I'm restringing an old block. But I've also thought that if that sawdust were left in, it would result in a coating that would prevent the roughness of the tuning pin from further scraping more sawdust from the hole's wall. At the very least, this coating would be captive. However it would not add anything to a consistent hole diameter in a block which has already had several decades of its tuning pins being turned.

------------------------------
William Ballard RPT
WBPS
Saxtons River VT
802-869-9107

"Our lives contain a thousand springs
and dies if one be gone
Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
should keep in tune so long."
...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
+++++++++++++++++++++
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 22:47
From: Benjamin Sanchez
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

Hi Joe,

My restringing guy usually reams the holes if he's keeping the pin block. He uses a gun barrel cleaner attachment in a drill. Once in, once out. It works very well. The block is usually very even afterwards. 

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
Piano Technician / Artisan
(805) 315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 16:18
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

A swabbing with CA or epoxy might help on that front...?


Pwg

------------------------------
Peter Grey
Stratham NH
603-686-2395
pianodoctor57@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-07-2020 08:55
From: William Ballard
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

Benjamin Sanchez said…
"My restringing guy usually reams the holes if he's keeping the pin block. He uses a gun barrel cleaner attachment in a drill. Once in, once out. It works very well. The block is usually very even afterwards."

As I understand it, reaming (if done accurately) scours the walls of the tuning pin hole for those "pits" where what was once a solid wall has had some micro-chunks turn into sawdust. (You can see this sawdust on the original pins.) But to be done accurately it should be held by a machine.

Just as effective is the gun barrel brush (7.62mm, as I remember). I do use that when I'm restringing an old block. But I've also thought that if that sawdust were left in, it would result in a coating that would prevent the roughness of the tuning pin from further scraping more sawdust from the hole's wall. At the very least, this coating would be captive. However it would not add anything to a consistent hole diameter in a block which has already had several decades of its tuning pins being turned.

------------------------------
William Ballard RPT
WBPS
Saxtons River VT
802-869-9107

"Our lives contain a thousand springs
and dies if one be gone
Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
should keep in tune so long."
...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
+++++++++++++++++++++

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 22:47
From: Benjamin Sanchez
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

Hi Joe,

My restringing guy usually reams the holes if he's keeping the pin block. He uses a gun barrel cleaner attachment in a drill. Once in, once out. It works very well. The block is usually very even afterwards. 

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
Piano Technician / Artisan
(805) 315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 16:18
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------

See Pianotek's straight-fluted reamers. Use them in a T-handle, not a power tool. They follow the hole and cut clean.
On a Steinway, how is the clearance with the plate webbing? There are no plate bushings. If you can get them, consider Lo-torque pins.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2020 16:18
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: To Ream or Not to Ream

List,
I'll be soon restringing a Steinway B, 25 years old, and wondering if I should ream before installing new tuning pins?  I had planned to brush the holes with a wire brush, and the torque is not terribly low, just uneven throughout.  I haven't run tests on which pins I will use, but likely it will be 3/0 or 3.5.
Thanks for any input.

------------------------------
Joe Wiencek

New York NY
------------------------------