Teflon bushings

Newton Hunt nhunt@jagat.com
Mon Dec 20 15:51 MST 1999


I don't use any reamer except when installing a new bushing that has
to be reamed a whole bunch.

I pick a pin, and I have as good a luck with regular pins as with S&S
pins and like the regular because I have big fat fingers that tend to
be stiff and awkward so longer pins are easier to handle.  All the
reasons S&S has to make you buy their pins is mostly sales hype.

I remove the pin and check the fit in each bushing.  If one is too
tight I waller the pin around in that hole until I get the pin t have
exactly the same fit and the other side then I repin and check for
swing.  Teflon wants to be a little snugger than felt, six swings
instead of seven.

You can get the set of reamers from the supply houses that work quite
well indeed.

Whatever you do it will have to be done again in a year or two on any
performance piano.  It is NOT a permanent fix.  Going for the perfect
fit is a waste of time and energy.  Get them to work nicely but be
prepared to go back and do them again in a few years even on a home
piano.

Teflon does NOT have a plastic memory so when you deform teflon it
stay deformed so super precision is an exercise in futility because a
good hard blow is likely to deform the bushing way way past your
precision.

I gave that precision stuff years ago when I realized I was wasting my
time on my primary concert piano because I had to do some it every
year and not always the same ones.

		Newton




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