The reason they discontinued the Insta-coiler is probably because they changed how they machined the socket that fits over the pin. The original socket was somewhat rounded on the corners. They changed the design to square corners I was told by the Schaff administration to lower manufacturing costs. The square corner weakened the strength of the corner and caused the corner to crack. When that happened the socket would flex, expand, bind in the barrel and make the entire tool useless.
So, I took the socket to an industrial machine shop for computer parts and had them redesign the socket so the corners were rounded but would still fit over the pin correctly. The redesign worked perfectly. I had about twenty sockets made and sold them for about $150 each so I could cover my costs and do a favor for others. I sold all but two. Schaff asked me to supply them with sockets, but there is no way a large enough run could be made to get a price point low enough for them to sell a tool for stringing.
The biggest obstacle was the vocal technicians who berated the tool for whatever reason. So, now a very fine tool that requires special machining has gone by the wayside. I have two that I will not sell to anyone. I will never string a piano any other way.
Your best bet for locating one is finding a very old one or one of the technicians I sold new sockets to. I don't have my records as to who those people are anymore.
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Tim Coates
Sioux Falls SD
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-25-2020 11:32
From: Neil Vanderschaaf
Subject: Sciortino Insta-Coiler
Looking for things to spend my money on, I came across this tool in an old Schaff piano supply catalog I keep on the shelf (I still like perusing through paper catalogs). When I went to order, I found out it is no longer carried by Schaff. I contacted them about it, they said it was discontinued in 2017 due to supplier problems. After reading so many positive comments about this tool it seems a shame that it is not available anymore. If I can get ahold of the plans for making the device I might be able to talk my next-door neighbor to get his engineering/machining company to make enough to satisfy Schaff. Any info would be appreciated.
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Neil Vanderschaaf
Round Rock TX
512-577-1840
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