Hi, Alan, At 10:14 AM 11/29/2010, you wrote: >One issue I have with teflon bushings is the high resistance to >movement at the beginning of the stroke, and then when that >resistance is overcome, the part moves with very little friction >resistance. Maybe I'm just making a problem out of nothing, but it >seems that it is therefore harder to control, from a pianist's >perspective. If so, the artistic perspective trumps, IMHO. > >Comments? ...of course!... For me, too, this has always been the area of primary concern. That said, so much has to do with the technique of the individual artist that it seems difficult (perhaps even pointless) to predict who may/may not notice, let alone get hung up on/by that initial friction. (I do want to be clear that this difficulty is not an excuse for not doing whatever can be reasonably done.) As this conversation has been unfolding, I have found myself wondering if some part of these kinds of problems might be addressed, albeit somewhat indirectly, through carefully combining the teflon technology with David's touchweight metrology; and would be very interested to know if anyone has done any of this. Best. Horace >Alan > > >-- Alan McCoy, RPT >Eastern Washington University ><amccoy at ewu.htm>amccoy at ewu.edu > > > > >From: Alan Eder <<reggaepass at aol.htm>reggaepass at aol.com> >Reply-To: CAUTlist <<caut at ptg.htm>caut at ptg.org> >Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:12:48 -0800 >To: CAUTlist <<caut at ptg.htm>caut at ptg.org> >Subject: Re: [CAUT] Teflon Bushings > >Hi Horace, >Hopefully, the advent of >the reintroduction of this kind of engineering and thinking through >the new action parts from W, N, & G has come at a time when people >are more receptive to this kind of radical departure from tradition. > >W, N & G's literature pays tribute to the Teflon bushing as a >crucial predecessor to their own cloth-less bushing. It was nice to >see on a number of levels. > >Alan Eder > >-----Original Message----- >From: Horace Greeley <<hgreeley at sonic.htm>hgreeley at sonic.net> >To: caut <<caut at ptg.htm>caut at ptg.org> >Sent: Sun, Nov 28, 2010 5:38 pm >Subject: Re: [CAUT] Teflon Bushings > > >Hi, Del, > >At 08:54 PM 11/28/2010, you wrote: > >And those repair procedures were completely wrong for the material. > >Yup...as was acknowledged at the time, by Freddie, and others. > > >Yet this > >technique continued to be taught for several years after it was known and > >demonstrated to be inadequate. > >This is correct, as far as it goes. > > >Workable techniques did not come into being until they -- along with the > >appropriate tools -- were developed independently by piano technicians. Once > >we had the appropriate tools and had figured out how to service the things > >these actions became increasingly reliable and the benefits of synthetic > >bushings began to be realized. Of course, by then the damage was done and > >another fundamentally good idea had bitten the dust. > >I respectfully disagree. > >The correct tools were always available within the factory. The >problem, as with so many other things, is that getting both them and >the proper techniques out to the field was the subject of a long and >bitter internal fight. On the one hand, there were people like >Freddie who were trying to do _something_ (knowing that it was not >the "right" thing). On the other, were many in management who took >the position that things were perfect, and that field technicians >were the problem. > >On my shop wall, I used to have a copy of a letter sent to a >regionally well-known school from Vince Orlando, who was at the time >a V.P. at Steinway. The subject of the letter was the condition and >servicing of a 1968 D. The (paraphrased) content of the letter was >to the effect that the piano had been perfect when it left the >factory, and that, if there were any problems, they had obviously >been caused by the incompetence of the local technician. Although I >was not the technician in question, I was familiar with both the >instrument and the venue and can relate that the action had >effectively locked up within weeks of delivery; and that nothing had >been done to it. Eventually, some degree of restorative warranty >work was performed, but only after some very serious sabre-rattling >on both sides. > >It was not until a fair number of these situations arose that Freddie >simply took it on himself to try to do something. Sadly, many more >such situations developed before the company realized that they had >to make available the tools and instruction on how to use >them. While there undoubtedly were independent technicians who came >up with this, too, I am not sure that it is possible to make a >sustainable case that the solution was developed independently by >them. I still have, someplace, a factory kit that dates from >sufficiently early in the timeline that it only has cut-outs for the >smaller, non-ribbed bushings...which places it before 1965, by which >time the larger bushings were starting to be seen in production. > >All of this is, of course, less than the proverbial tempest in a >teapot. Between introducing a product/process that clearly was not >ready for prime time, refusing to provide proper tools and parts, >numerous "catastrophic" failures, and, I'm sorry to say, continuing >unproductive commentary from sales personnel and technicians, what >could have been a revolutionary improvement in piano actions has been >swept into the dust-bin of piano history. Hopefully, the advent of >the reintroduction of this kind of engineering and thinking through >the new action parts from W, N, & G has come at a time when people >are more receptive to this kind of radical departure from tradition. > >As always, best regards. > >Horace > > > > >ddf > > > >Delwin D Fandrich > >Piano Design & Fabrication > >620 South Tower Avenue > >Centralia, Washington 98531 USA > ><del at fandrichpiano.htm>del at fandrichpiano.com > ><ddfandrich at gmail.htm>ddfandrich at gmail.com > >Phone 360.736.7563 > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: <caut-bounces at ptg.htm>caut-bounces at ptg.org > [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org <mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org?> ] On > Behalf Of Horace > >Greeley > >Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2010 7:40 PM > >To: <caut at ptg.htm>caut at ptg.org > >Subject: Re: [CAUT] Teflon Bushings > > > >... Perhaps more importantly, the solid-bushed Teflon action was a number of > >years into production before any procedures for servicing it was available, > >let alone tools with which to perform the service. It wasn't until things > >were largely at crisis level that Freddie Drasche started teaching his > >home-grown technique of rolling brass center pins between two files.... > > > >Too bad...still an excellent concept...once fully worked through, it's very > >stable and will last a long time. > > > >Best. > > > >Horace > > >
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