Hello.  I have sort of a special situation here.  I have an old
upright player piano in the shop, that's in pretty good shape except
that it has loose-pin-itis.

I'm fixing up the old piano for a family member.  Usually I will
replace the pinblock; however, the finances prevent this.  So far
I have avoided "doping" the pinblock.  Here is the status of the strung
back.

1.  All pins have been driven down, and the coils touch the plate, very
loose.  It's difficult to tune in summer, impossible to tune in winter.

2.  The bass has been restrung with 4/0's, with various size pins here
and there, due to rusty strings.  In short, it's a mess.  The past
tuner really botched the job, without much regard to the problems he
would cause someone else, namely me.

3.  Upon removal of the plate and inspecting, the block is not cracked,
nor pulling forward.

4.  I have been asked to make it serviceable for a few more years
if possible, until a complete job could be afforded.  It's also
sentimental, so it's not going anywhere.

5.  No cracks in soundboard, and downbearing is good.

6.  If it were mine, I would reblock it.

I would like to run an idea past the group.  It's a little off-beat,
but it might make the piano tunable again for a long time..

What I thought about doing is to drill all the pin holes out, to a
larger size, and all the same size.  Then, using a plug cutter, cut and
curl out some plugs out of thick pinblock material.  Using a high grade
epoxy, tightly epoxy the plugs in the holes, then drill them out for
2/0 pins as in a new pinblock.  This will depend on the epoxy not
"timing out"; that is what I'm worried about more than anything.

In order for this to work, the holes drilled in the old pinblock should
be as large as possible to prevent the "plugs" from being too thin
after the new pin holes are drilled.  Conversely, the holes should not
be too large, or the old  pinblock might crack between rows under
tension.  Boesendorfer tapered pins might be use here with good results.

So what do you guys think?  Is this workable plan for a "borderline"
piano?

Andy Taylor