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The pin block is a panel of laminated hard rock maple or birch into which the tuning pins are driven. Each string in a piano is trying to unwind the coil on the tuning pin with a tension of nearly 200 pounds. If the tuning pin torque is low, the block is unable to sustain that tension. A delaminating block can be to blame, or a block that has dried out to the point it can no longer hold the pin. In some cases, oversized tuning pins can be used for another generation of tuning stability. This does not work well in cases of block delamination. In these cases, pin block replacement is the preferred option.
It is possible to repin a piano without restringing, but it is a royal pain and makes little sense. If a piano needs to be repinned, it undoubtedly would be helped with a new set of strings, and very likely a rescaling. As with rescaling bass strings, treble rescaling can improve evenness of tone, tuning stability, and of course decrease string breakage potential if the original strings are old and deteriorated by corrosion.
