Wim, I don't want to appear to "pile on," but I do want to quibble with you about the notion that they are "only" the practice room grands you were contemplating putting plastic bushings in. Practice room grands are #3 on my priority list, right behind concert instruments and piano faculty studios. They are where piano students try to learn to play with nuance and artistry, and need to be in top shape all the time, within the limits of available time and resources. And piano students are my main reason to be working in the music department. With respect to the practical issue of keeping up with key bushing, I think beginning with a top quality job is the only way to go - beautifully sized bushings of top quality felt lubed with teflon powder, on beautifully polished pins lubed with ProLube. To get more life from a new set of bushings, try steam sizing them. Put the keys in key clamps (Spurlock), steam the bushings with travel iron until they swell (but don't actually unglue), follow with a key easing iron with precision cauls (Pianotek has a new set of parallel sided cauls for your 40 watt iron, with separate sizes for balance and front rail a few thousandths apart. I'm not sure if it's in the catalogue yet, but they had them in Chicago for $15 a set. Very nice and precise). Polish the pins, lube them with a cloth that's impregnated with ProLube, feeling each pin for any burrs or corrosion. Replace those! It takes far less time to replace a pin than to replace the bushing it will eat up in a few months at practice room rates. You should also inspect the bushings before steaming to see if any are worn badly - it's obvious if they are the kind with white centers, and pretty easy to see even if not. Then examine the corresponding pin to see why. (If there's a lot of wear, steam sizing isn't worth the trouble. Just rebush). BTW, for anyone who doesn't know, the easy way to remove key pins is to use a pair of "dikes" (the auto mechanic's term for diagonal cutting pliers) and a piece of 1/4 - 3/8" dowel or square stock. Use the wood as a fulcrum, about 1/2" away from the pin. Grab the pin with the tip of the dikes at the pin's bottom and pry up about 3/16". Release and grab again at the bottom. Three pries and it's out. Pound in the new one. Half a minute, max. No sweat, no cussing (compared to pulling with pliers or vice grips). _Grab_ the pin with the dikes. Make a dimple in each side. No slip that way. You're going to throw it away. Steam sizing reverses compression of the felt pretty well. It does little for wear, which is why polishing and lubing and replacing pins is so important. Scales and glissandi cause rapid compression, which is why practice room bushings become wobbly so fast. Often it's more compression than wear, especially if it was a good job to begin with (see above). There are those who advocate leather for longevity, and you can read about that in the archives. Myself, I prefer a high quality felt job - wider range of available thicknesses, easier to precision size. But we all have our preferences. Regardless what material you use, the feel of a firm but free keyboard is the goal - it makes an enormous difference to the pianist, whether or not he/she knows where the difference lies. It's the "new" feel, and adds a sense of control. The intense work required by practice room grands (in tandem with concert and piano faculty pianos) is why the workload recommendation in the Guidelines is so seemingly high. I remember you commenting you thought a full time job caring for 70 pianos would be a walk in the park, when you first took the job. It's keeping up with bushings, and hammers, and knuckles, and regulation, and broken strings, and, and, and . . . - keeping those practice pianos almost as good as a concert instrument all the time - that really defines what being a CAUT is all about, IMO. And means a lot of hours, more than anyone in the retail field could imagine. All that said, thanks for asking about the plastic cauls. Keep questions and ideas coming. It keeps us awake and alive. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico Quoting Wimblees@aol.com: > It's always fun to go off on tangent on a questions. It adds some > levity to > the list. (Can I throw in my glue gun?) > > But besides just telling I should not use plastic bushings, I don't > think any > one told me why they should not be used. Remember, I want to put > these on > practice room grands, not the concert grand or the piano teacher's > studio > pianos. > > Be gentle > > Wim >
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