CAUT

  • 1.  Bridge pin repair

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-27-2023 07:30
    Hello CAUT community
    Our Steinway D in the Conservatory has odious false beats in all three wires at D5.
    Of course it is directly underneath the strut.
    The eye confirms elongation of the bridge pin holes.
    I’m thinking of removing the wire of course and adding epoxy to it.
    Should I try to remove the bridge pins?
    The applicator would have to be tiny and the viscosity correct. Cleanup with denatured alcohol.
    Has anyone attempted this?
    Michael

    Mike Lynam
    Registered Piano Technician
    207 350 9548


  • 2.  RE: Bridge pin repair

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-27-2023 14:21

    Check out "Bridge Repairs for Better Tone" in the August 2015 Piano Technicians Journal.  Right down the line of what you are proposing, with much helpful detail.  Also, download the index for the Journal Archive and search on bridge pins, or bridge repair.  Somewhere around the time the Spurlock article was published for the first time, there were various discussions in the Journal around this issue, with variety of alternative approaches articulated.



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    Floyd Gadd RPT
    Regina SK
    (306) 502-9103
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  • 3.  RE: Bridge pin repair

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-27-2023 14:26

    With the single note under a strut being the issue, I would encourage you to very carefully drip some water-thin CA into the voids around the pins.  This is often done without removing the wires, but I have found that approach to be problematic in more than a couple of instances.  Lifting the strings out of the road, and administering the CA should give you much improvement.  Here's what I use for glue application:

    https://www.amazon.com/PH-PandaHall-Micro-Tips-Applicator-Dispensing/dp/B07VVQKHDJ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=4O00C8VACKY4&keywords=glue+applicator+tips&qid=1677525915&sprefix=glue+appli%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-3



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    Floyd Gadd RPT
    Regina SK
    (306) 502-9103
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Bridge pin repair

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-28-2023 10:12
    Be careful with the CA glue. Where a little may be beneficial, a lot will deaden the tone and sustain. In other words, you can't apply it the same way as with tuning pins. It would also help to remove the pins and strings and check the deflection angle as well as clean up the v-bar if applicable. 

    John Leggett, RPT



    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Bridge pin repair

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-28-2023 10:19

    ...and when putting the bridge pins back in, consider rotating them to present a fresh, unindented surface to the string. That also can help mitigate false beats.

    Best,

    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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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Bridge pin repair

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 02-28-2023 11:14
    I like to apply McLube 444 to the bridge pins while they are out and let it dry before reinserting them (or do that with new pins), to make it easier to remove them next time down the road. I found when needing to remove pins that I had CA'd several years previous that they were VERY hard to pull. 
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    http://fredsturm.net
    www.artoftuning.com
    "The cure for boredom is curiosity, and there is no cure for curiosity." Dorothy Parker




    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Bridge pin repair

    Posted 02-28-2023 11:27
    It's no accident that note frequently has similar problems on many D's. I'm convinced that is because it's difficult to string the wire properly without twisting with the strut being so close.  If you simply restring the note very carefully chances are that will solve the problem.  Of course you can treat and inspect bridge pins in the process but if it's only that note bride pins are unlikely to be the issue. 

    Best,
    Dennis Johnson