key bushings

[Newton Hunt]

>Newton's intermittently dyslexic in either directions from the middle out, 
>so you have to take the "sue", and make either "seu", or "use". Your call.

My spell checker is SO stupid.  But then what does that say about me?

>How do you sue the superior to get more tightly woven cloth.

Well, stupid is as stupid does. :)

In 40 years I have likely rebushed more than 100 sets of keys.  It
wasn't until the first sets of aluminum cauls (late '70s?) that
precision bushing _could_ be done.  Key factories had brass cauls but we
did not have access to them.  Then we had to concern ourselves with the
quality of the cloth which was all over the place.  The looser woven
cloth would not held easing well and felt alternately snug and loose. 
Finally we had access to more tightly woven cloths that were also better
skived (actually milled) for better dimensions.  Finally Bill Spurlock
came along with his system which works so much better than the older
systems used that using other cauls is slower and less precise.

The big advantage is that it is so much easier to use two different
thicknesses for a more precise fit.  I have also noticed that the
tighter woven cloth lasts longer than the old material.  You tend to
notice things like that when you service the same piano year after year
after year at a university setting.

Once, many years ago, a bunch of us from Dallas drove down to Baylor to
visit with Danny Boone.  He was a great jig builder.  He build a jig
that had a pin for the bottom of the key and a cloth feeder that would
feed out us the amount of felt he needed to go inside the pre-glued
mortise.  With that system he did not have to handle the cloth.  Simple,
elegant and functional.

Have a bushing, er bashing, good time. :)

		Newton