While in conversation with a piano technician friend of mine today,
he told me about a 5' 4" Knabe Ampico A he knows about that suddenly
without warning, the pin block "exploded", separating all the plies and
relaxing the strings instantly.  He did not know if this explosive
release of tension might have also cracked the harp.

Has anyone on MMD ever experienced such a catastrophic failure of
a grand piano?  If so, what might have caused it?  What could the
consequences have been under worse case conditions?  Are our existing
grand pianos at risk of similar disaster?

Regards,

Terry Smythe
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
http://www.mts.net/~smythe