yamaha balance rail rebushing question

[William Monroe]

Faster than.......??

Certainly not faster than rebushing just the "untucked" portion.  It adds a 
step, no two ways about it.  I'm with Mr. Morvan on this one.  I see no 
advantage to trying to duplicate the "tucked" bushing.  To suggest there is 
"considerable" risk at pushing out  the bushing is, I think, exaggerated.  I 
can honestly say I've "never" had a bushing push out on me in any 
circumstance (of course, now it will probably happen next week).  ;-]

I would much more quickly buy the idea that manufacturers do this out of 
expediency as Mr. Morvan points out.  I'd say if you like the idea of 
reproducing the original, go for it.  If you're not married to that idea, no 
harm in rebushing the keys with the "standard" rebushing method.

William R. Monroe

> At 17:16 -0400 7/9/08, Mike Morvan wrote:
>
>>There is no advantage of any kind to bushing that area of the button when 
>>rebushing.. When buttons are made, they are bushed from the underside with 
>>cauls then flipped over and glued to the top of the keysticks. That is the 
>>only reason the little piece of cloth is there.
>
> I'd say that if there were no advantage, key-makers generally would have 
> halved the amount of cloth they used by not making the chases like that. 
> In fact very few key-makers in the last 120 years have done so.
>
> In pianos that are frequently maintained and regulated there is a 
> considerable risk of pushing out the chase bushing when replacing the keys 
> on the pins if the bushings are not tucked in.
>
> I always rebush key-chases by feeding the cloth strip through the sides 
> and pushing it up with special plugs which are dropped into the chase 
> before the cloth is pulled through.  One end of the plug protrudes through 
> the balance hole, and when glue has been applied, this is pushed up, 
> squeezing the cloth against the wood.  The cloth is then slit along the 
> middle and the ends trimmed when the glue is set.  This method not only 
> restored the keys as original but is probably faster.
>
> JD
>
>