[CAUT] WNG F/R pin shims

[Susan Kline]

>I'm surprised that shim is the best they can do as a supplier. It seems
>to me that something a simple .012" plastic sheeting would be an
>adequate shim material, or even paper (since the glue would solidify it).

I think I'd prefer paper solidified with glue as well, Jon. I think of
plastic as lacking longevity and also having no give to it (the old
teflon bushing problem.) If the wood shrank a little over time, the
plastic could conceivably become noisy, and the pins loose. Or
if the pins where pressed hard into the plastic, it might with age
start splitting or flaking away. This is probably an unnecessary
degree of caution, but I just don't like plastic or rubber used as
bushing materials in pianos. Also, when someone introduces plastic
or another synthetic material in a new place in a piano,
it's often years and years before its drawbacks show up, by
which time a zillion instruments have it in them -- like the
corfam situation in Baldwin uprights, for instance.

Susan Kline