Steinway & Sons BIO

[pianolover 88]

Just wanted to pass along a recommendation for a great book (For those who 
haven't read it) on the history of S&S. While I've read several other bio's 
on Steinway, this one is by far the best, not only in my opinion, but the 
critics love it also. Anyway, toward the end of chapter 18, the subject of 
"teflon" bushings comes up. It seems that Henry Steinway was  hesitant about 
admitting this "breakthrough" was a mistake, and when they finally went back 
to felt (in 1982, after 20 years of teflon!) there were already 60,000 
Steinway's sold with Teflon bushings. Here's the deal. When the weather was 
HUMID, the action became LOOSE! When the Humidity was LOW, the action became 
SLUGGISH! (Just the opposite of what normally happens!) The Teflon didn't 
respond mush at all to changes in humididty, but the wood surrounding it 
did. Here's an experpt: "In the dry winter the wood would shrink, making the 
bushing hole smaller, thereby squeezing the bushing so tight that the action 
became sluggish. In the humid months the wood would swell with water, making 
the bushing hole bigger. so leaving room for the teflon bushing to knock 
around." But wait a minute. If that's true, shouldn't the same dry 
conditions which cause the wood to shrink ALSO squeeze a FELT bushing tight 
as well, causing a sluggish action as well?

Terry Peterson

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