John Koelle

Pinblock

     Since the pinblock is built into the piano, and all of the strings and the plate need to be removed  to install a new  one, it is of the highest priority that the finest materials be used.

     The Falconwood pinblock was developed over 40 years ago.  It is the best pinblock in the world.  I have been using it for 24 years and have never had one fail.  The Falconwood pinblock is unique in several ways. 

• It is the most dense pinblock available.  The density of a Falconwood pinblock is 1.0.  Other pinblocks never exceed .80 density.  This means the Falconwood Pinblock is 20% stronger

• When boring the Falconwood pinblock, a larger drill bit is used (.272).  As a result less wood around the pinblock is harmed when the pins are driven in thus adding years of life to your Falconwood pinblock.

• The Falconwood pinblock is multi-laminated (27 ply). A Multi-laminated pinblock is stronger and more stable than the common 5-ply blocks.

     So why doesn't everyone else install Falconwood?  Because of it's density it requires superior woodworking skills as well as more sophisticated tooling. It is also considerably more expensive.

     Koelle Piano uses a 27-lamination Falconwood pinblock in all of its rebuilds, thus allowing us to give a 15 year guarantee on all rebuilding work performed.