Well actually when my pin popped, I was calling it things besides cornporne. Ok. I’m doing a house concert, lots of pastorals because they are my new toy and I love them. At one point the roaring fireplace in the room dried things out enough to pop the mainstock right out, which put a damper on “The Wild Geese”.
bogglePick it up, back in she goes.. onward and upward. But the real showstopper was when one of the reg key pins worked its way out and dropped. There goes the pin AND spring, and with great luck they both landed fairly close by and I was able to spot them and re-assemble (later of course).
Is it fairly common for reg pins to work themselves out, or is this something that requires a fix? Or is it one of those things I just have to keep watching? Any thought appreciated, thanks in advance.
Depends on many factors. Naturally, there are a few different ‘cures’ that will work.
Most of the sets I’ve seen have straight pins, drilled through the pin blocks. Usually, they are cleanly cut on both ends.
They may have started out as long wire brads, some may have been thin rod or wire that is cut to size. Sometimes the ends are deburred, chamfered or slightly rounded.
If you press the associated key 40-50 times you may see the pin ‘walk’ slightly to one direction. That’s a key you want to work on.
If the pin always walks in the same direction, you could tap it out the other way about 1-2 mm and run a flat file on the end making a small burr that acts as a retainer. Tap it back to the keyblock. This will hold it from walking past that point.
Another way (I hate to recommend) is to take needle nosed pliers and slightly squeeze an end (oval) or very slightly bend the wire, just near the end and press it into place. I stress the word slightly. I suggest this as a last resort only because it could possibly elongate the hole for the wire.
If you continue having problems, you may decide to replace the pin. Any pins that are too long could easily snag clothing and cause problems.
Childress does a nice job of folding the end of the wire and sinking it into a small recess (see picture) This holds the pins from twisting or shifting and they are easily removed for key cleaning or maintenance.
All pins want to walk if they are not in snug enough. Pins are usually tapered, i.e. wider at one end than the other. If the wide end is wide enough to fit tightly in its socket, you should be able to put a bit of stiff wax on to hold it better.
If the pin is too narrow you can try to put it in from the opposite side, or just replace it, either with brass wire or a preferably a brass brad, taking care to taper the new pin to fit the existing holes in the mounts.
Last night in the middle of a rehearsal, one of my tenor reg pins came out… me thinks the hinge on my bellows grabbed it… went to jump into a tune and just no pressure… kept hearing a little high-pitched moan (no jokes please)… checked all the reg keys, and one key just fell off… no pin.. no spring.
Grabbed some electrical tape to close the hole and kept going. Fortunately, the pin AND the little compression spring showed up later.. very lucky…
so there must be something in the air as of yesterday for these things to be escaping the safetly and security of their wooden mounts… maybe the gravitational pull of Uranus?
Here’s an alternative to the “bent end” on a regulator key - this was on an original 18th century set (Kenna?)
Note the bead soldered onto the head of the pin - as long as it’s pointed the right way it’s unlikely to work loose, and it makes the pin easier to remove in case it is stored/neglected and corrodes a bit. Some of the other pins, which didn’t have this feature, had indeed corroded into place on this set, and presented a serious problem when it came time to remove/removate the keys.
By the way, note that the key itself appears to have been folded from sheet brass, and note the flat head on the rivet bottom…
Hi Bill, since this has something to do with my earlier post. That is the type of mechanism I have on my regulators. I notice on the key that there is a slight bit of corrosion. Basically what happend is part of the pin and spring corroded and snapped (see above pick). Sorry yes it was brass and not copper. We also live by the ocean so any metal corrodes and eventually deterorates by the coast.
