I may pay the price for this later by cracking the pin block. In my video, you will see that I have gone with a drill that is a bit smaller than it should be for the pin.
#Kimball baby grand piano pin block cracked
In order to ensure that the pin block is not going to be cracked by the work you are doing, you SHOULD buy the proper size drill for the pin you are installing. If none have been replaced, then you job is that much easier. There may be a few that have already been replaced, and it will be somewhat obvious by the color / oxidation on the pins.
![kimball baby grand piano pin block kimball baby grand piano pin block](https://beaverspiano.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/20190214_1414046167756692057826210.jpg)
First take a look at the pins to see if they all generally look the same.
#Kimball baby grand piano pin block how to
The video below will show you how to do this. The only way to do this is to remove one of the pins. The first step in replacing a tuning pin is to find out the current size of your pins. In an upright piano, there is no way to know for sure if the pin block is cracked, but generally, from what I read, if all the pins are loose and won’t hold a tune at all for more than a few hours, there is a good possibility that the block is cracked. The piano is built around the pin block on an upright piano. To replace the pin block on an upright would require complete disassembly of the piano case. To replace the pin block is very expensive on a grand / baby grand piano, but on an upright it is generally considered not doable. A cracked pin block is will render the piano useless unless replaced. One concern in doing this is that you don’t want to crack the pin block. All other methods are just as time-consuming, and the results are not as not as good (I speak from the reading I have done on the subject, not personal experience). There are several methods to take care of this problem, but the best overall method is to replace the existing tuning pins with the next larger size. Each time the pins are adjusted, the hole becomes a bit bigger in the tuning block. This is due to the number of times the piano has been tuned over the years.
![kimball baby grand piano pin block kimball baby grand piano pin block](https://d29jd5m3t61t9.cloudfront.net/mypianofriends.com/images/fbfiles/images/414w/20150401_133056_v_1517463510.jpg)
When a piano gets old (more than 50 years) the tuning pins start to become loose in the pin block (a block of wood that is built into the piano). I will have some links at the bottom of this post with more information.
![kimball baby grand piano pin block kimball baby grand piano pin block](https://www.duluthfinepianos.com/uploads/4/1/4/1/41412393/published/img-1247.jpg)
You can typically get a full set of tuning pins for less than $100. Here I will show you how to do it yourself for a fraction of that price. If you have it done professionally, it will cost you a minimum of $1000 to have the entire piano re-pinned. This post will show you how to replace a tuning pin on your piano.