glueing controversy

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Newton Hunt wrote:
> 
> I have wished for some heat shrink tubing with Teflon like qualities to
> be use on such.
> 
> Alfred Knight had some balance pins that had a Teflon sleeve around them
> to help reduce friction at the bushings and at the balance hole.  I do
> not know is Knight continues such practice.
> 
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Newton,

Heat shrinkable Teflon tubing is available. I've gotten it in the past
from electronics distributors—the industrial type, not the Radio Shack
variety. Various diameters are available. If you’re interested in trying
any of these ideas, make sure you get Teflon tubing. The other types are
neither as lubricious nor as tough.

I've tried it on one set of front rail and one set of balance rail pins
experimentally. You have to enlarge the balance pin hole in the bottom
of the key considerably. A modification which is, of course, not easily
reversible. In this particular case, I had to fix those anyway. It
didn't produce enough benefit to be worth the trouble. For the front
rail, I used very thin bushing cloth to allow for the extra thickness of
the tubing on the key pins. This seemed to provide somewhat more benefit
and might be worth some real study. One experimental keyset does not
constitute a viable test. I wonder, though, if some of the modern
lubricants such as McLube might not provide nearly as much benefit with
a whole lot less work.

I've also used shrinkable Teflon tubing on a number of set of Steinway
type repetition springs. It’s a very reliable method of permanently
lubricating this friction point. And I do mean permanently. The spring
setting is much more reliable and consistent. It is not necessary to
clean out spring groove in the bottom of the repetition lever beyond a
quick wipe with the tip of a pencil. In fact, half the time I don’t even
do that.

—ddf