Hello Andrew, I have restored many pianos with leather bushings. Square grands and earlier european pianos often used leather bushings as if they knew it held up better. These bushings come in 100 years old, and showing little sign of wear. It is clearly a better material to implement, but there are a few serious differences from felt. First, as felt is woven for strength, leather is not. If you attempt to insert a needle behind the leather, you may find the needle to cut cleanly through the leather without a thought. once the leather is cut, it will not ride the pin smoothly. If you are careful, it may be just fine, and If you mess up a bushing, there are a few good websites to point you in the right direction.... second, the leather if it gets wet will turn hard and shrink to nothing. Likewise, if you apply heat as an attempt to size on a humid day, it can do the same thing. I believe I would consider Yamaha's method for sizing the bushing hole. Try a rounded piece of metal to burnish (polish) the wood on either side of the leather. Press firm, and go back and forth.... this will mushroom the wood slightly and tighten the bushing. If that does not work, consider new leather. Good luck, Mark Perry www.carvedpianoparts.com > From > I have a late 30s student piano (a0 to a7) traded into the store for > piano lessons. The piano case shows some of the age, but when I got > into it I was surprised at how well made it is. It tunes up > beautifully and plays great with a regulation close to the strings > allowing very fine dynamic control. > > I'm wondering if the leather front key bushings are original? I > wouldn't mind if they were a little tighter. Is there an acceptable > way to "rejuvenate" leather in the context of a keypin? > > Andrew Anderson, Artisan Piano _________________________________________________________________ Get free photo software from Windows Live http://www.windowslive.com/online/photos?ocid=PID23393::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:SI_PH_software:082009 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090813/588b68a4/attachment.htm>
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