S&S tuning pins...

[larudee@pacbell.net]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> >As Del Fandrich so eloquently set forth just within the last week, bushings
> >eventually become ineffectual anyway, and even when still tight, they only
> >reduce flex (flagpoling), not torsion.
>
> Hi Paul,
> He said it was an arrangement doomed to failure, but failure at what? Phil
> didn't specify that bushings would have any holding power on the pins, but
> that was what Del seemed to be addressing. Has anyone actually made any
> claim to the effect that bushings grip tuning pins like a pinblock and
> increase torque resistance?

No, and I didn't claim to be refuting such a claim.  I was merely addressing the
question of what bushings can and cannot do, and how well.

> Who? I don't recall ever reading it on list if
> they did, but everyone pulls that out of the hat as the first, and so far
> only condemnation of plate bushings. I wonder at all this countering of a
> claim nobody seems to have made. Bushings aren't ineffectual as long as
> they reduce flagpoling, which is their long term benefit to the tuner as
> well as being a short term benefit to the pinblock driller as a centering
> aid.   Ron N

Problem is, they reduce flagpoling less and less in a fairly short period of
time.  How long does it take before you see visible gaps between the pin and the
bushing in a new piano?  Often as little as five years, in my experience, and
never more than ten.

Paul