Plate Bushings - was Re: Bushing vs. bigger pin?

[Richard Brekne]

LOL... well I certainly aggree with the comments relating to the God myth
"Steinway Tech", tho I certainly listen to what they have to say, if for no
other reason then for edification. 

As for your comparison of bushed pins to pins riding on the plate... hmm I
am not so sure.. tho I see where you are coming from for sure. As to the
force exerted on the pinblock in general.. 250 some pins with all that
string weight on them gotta exert some force for sure, and its easy enough
to imagine the circumstance as these fellows describe.. seems to make
sense, tho as I stated in the last post I am not sure just how big a deal
it all is. I suppose one could easily enough put together a makeshift
simulation that would show actually what goes on ..

btw... the Easter bunny just happens to be a personal friend of mine..

Ron Nossaman wrote:
> 
>
> I like plate bushings for the reasons I listed. They decrease flagpoling,
> keep the pin off of the plate, and improve the feel during tuning (in my
> opinion). I have no scientific documentation, no charts or graphs, no
> formulae, nor automatically accepted and unchallengeable opinion of a
> "Steinway Tech".
> 
> I haven't seen convincing evidence to the effect that plate flange fit is
> critical to tuning stability in the first place, and certainly don't see
> any logic in the idea that they will lever the pinblock away from the
> flange, keeping in mind that every non-proponent of bushings reasonably
> points out that they won't support pressure without smashing. They won't,
> however, smash down to nothing. At a certain point, they will have
> compressed to the point where they WILL support string tension and keep the
> pin away from the plate. There will be more friction between the pin and
> the bushing than between the pin and the plate, which will give a better
> feel (again, in my opinion) to the pin during tuning.
> 
> The next time you tune a piano without plate bushings, look and see how
> many of the pins are riding the plate, and consider if that is a somewhat
> similar circumstance to the bushing leverage theory. Where's all that
> flange gap induced tuning instability that's supposed to result? If it's
> such a horrifyingly big deal that so many accept as Gospel and pass on as a
> great truth, wouldn't you think there would be some detectable evidence to
> that effect? Or is all this just camouflage and a smoke screen to use as an
> excuse to not have to spend an hour fitting a block to a plate flange? If
> that's the case, they ought to just butter the block with epoxy and get on
> with it. I don't see the point in trying to give plate bushings a bad name
> because Steinway doesn't use them. Incidentally, a well known Steinway
> employee (since gone elsewhere) once told me that putting bushings in a
> Steinway would kill the Steinway Sound. He said it disrupts the "Circle of
> Sound" between the strings, tuning pins, pinblock, plate, horn, beams, rim,
> soundboard, bridges, and back to the strings. He didn't mention the Easter
> Bunny, which I don't believe in either.
> 
> Ron N

-- 
Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
Associate, PTG
Bergen, Norway