[log in to unmask] wrote:

> Grant O’Brien gives measurements of Ruckers tuning pins in his book (p. 98):
> ...Is O’Brien wrong here, or were the
> Ruckers the only makers who did this?
> Incidentally, I measured an old Zuckermann “tapered” pin from the David Way
> era (not one of their recent ones) and found it tapered almost exactly as
> O’Brien describes.

A) Everyone please forgive my miss-posting of late last night - hit the wrong
icon. Now my dear wife gets to read it twice...

B) I am not sure that in the first instance Ruckers pins can be taken as the
standard of the craft, nor I suspect was O'Brien able to measure every
instrument's pins; and in the second the early Z-pins were in fact relatively
short and were forced into holes which were too small in diameter so were not
properly aligned. Long tuning pins are better. Because they can have more contact
area with the wrestplank wood, the fit does not have to be extremely tight, and
they will turn more easily yet hold more efficiently than tight-fitting pins
which have little surface contact.

David Jensen
Harpsichord Maker
http://www.harpsichord-man.com/