Teflon Steinway - Solutions?

[Avery Todd]

Hi Keith,

>>...Teflon shrinks in moisture. If it is moved to a dry climate it will
>>tighten
>>up...
>>
>>Jon Page

>No offense, Jon, but it's the wood that changes, Jon, not the teflon.  It
>is considered an inert substance.

   A question, then. Why is it that teflon actions are said to act the
opposite of felt bushed actions with humidity changes, i.e. wood/felt
swells with high humidity, thereby tightening around the center pin. With
the teflon, the opposite is true. That's when the actions tend to get noisy.
   In low humidity, wood/felt dry out thereby loosening around the center
pin, whereas teflon supposedly tightens up during low humidity.
   I could very well be incorrect here and someone correct me if I'm wrong,
but I've always heard that was one of the reasons Steinway had so many
problems with teflon out in the field during the early years. Technicians
had not been made to understand the differences between it and felt, hence
treated teflon the same as they would felt bushings as far as the effects
of humidity changes were concerned.

>Keith McGavern

Avery