Slick Key Bushings.

[Fred Sturm]

This was brought home to me just this past week, with me as performer.
I was playing a piece in our composers symposium where I was asked to do
pianissimo glissandi in the bass. Which means that instead of the
typical glissando move of fingernail with a good deal of momentum, I was
using fingertips at a very low angle to the keys - kind of sliding the
whole palm of the hand along, making contact with the key first with the
plam, and only after the hand had slid along - fairly slowly - would the
key be depressed all the way.
	Anyhow, bottom line, I was utterly amazed at the resistance I found in
several pianos I thought were not so bad, including the performance
piano I was to play the piece on in concert (though it was the best of
the lot). In some cases there was so much friction that my hand simply
wouldn't move along at all, though I could gliss okay with fingernails
and more speed.
	My solution was to remove the keyslip and spray prolube up at the front
pins, then wipe the residue from the keys. Worked quite well, but I'll
check to see how long lasting. BTW, the worst was with pianos with worn
bushings, so probably there was some glue residue contacting pins in
some cases.
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

Richard Brekne wrote:
> 
> Hi list.
> 
> Newton is always on about the need to polish key pins, and I have a
> story to relate that underlines the importance of as slick as possible a
> relationship between key pin and bushings.
> 
snip
> 
> So listen to Newton and his "polish the darn Key pins" line.  I for one
> have learned not to underestimate the value of the least possible
> friction (of any kind) between key pins and bushings.
> 
> RicB
> 
> --
> Richard Brekne
> RPT, N.P.T.F.
> Bergen, Norway
> mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
> http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html