Key Bushing Mortises

[Murray Seminuk]

Hi Terry
I have found that the better quality of bushing felt cuts much cleaner.My
preference is from Fletcher and Newman .Poorer quality felt is not as solid
feeling .I have used a pointed Exacto knife and after sharpening on a
diamond sharpening strip I give the blade a stroke on 100 grit emery
strip,just to give it a little of a sawtooth effect.It works for me.

Murray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: Key Bushing Mortises


> Thanks to all for their thoughts on my key bushing mortise dilemma. I took
> my router, set it up on a couple blocks, slide the up-side-down key under
> router and rout out the area by eye. I'd be curious how someone has made a
> jig to center the grinding on the mortise. For this job, the eye method
will
> be fine.
>
> One thing I have found and had not seen mentioned by anyone when doing
> bushings ala Spurlock method: When I have used Bill Spurlock's razor
knife,
> I find it works OK, but does tend to pull the bushing a bit out of
position.
> I tried my rotary felt cutter (from Pianotek) and it works awsome. Cuts
the
> felt right where you want it and does not move it a bit.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Murray Seminuk" <seminukm@cadvision.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 5:00 PM
> Subject: Re: Key Bushing Mortises
>
>
> > Hi Terry
> > Terry I have a jig to router mortises much like the way Yamaha keys are
> > done.Straight across the whole keybottom.You only have to remove enough
> wood
> > to accomodate the compressed cloth .Make sure the mortise is centred
and
> > the same width as the cauls that you are using.In doing this the cloth
> will
> > not have an effect on the touch of the instrument.
> >
> > Murray
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 10:55 AM
> > Subject: Key Bushing Mortises
> >
> >
> > > I am rebushing keys from an older spinet. The mortises on the front
rail
> > do
> > > not have regular little recessed areas on each side of the mortise for
> the
> > > little flap of bushing cloth that is typically left over the edge (on
a
> > > plane with the bottom of the key). All other keys I have rebushed or
> have
> > > had rebushed had a nice little recessed area next to the mortise to
> > > accommodate the left over flap. The old bushings from these keys had
the
> > > little flap, but the flaps were irregular in that some were partly
> > submerged
> > > in a crude recess, some were not submerged and stuck out below the
> bottom
> > of
> > > the key, etc., i.e. a real mess. My experience with this arrangement
is
> > that
> > > it is difficult to get nice consistent dip with an irregular bottom to
> the
> > > key.
> > >
> > > So, what to do. If this were my piano for life, I would rout out or
> chisel
> > > out the proper recess. This is not my piano, but I do want to have
flat
> > key
> > > bottoms. Can I cut the bushings at the key bottom and not have any
> flap -
> > > much like many center rail bushings are cut? That would certainly be
the
> > > easiest solution, assuming I would get proper performance (I don't see
> why
> > > this would not work - or is it too easy to damage the bushing when
> setting
> > > the key onto the pin?). If that is not a good idea, can someone
suggest
> > the
> > > easiest method of making the little recess - I prefer not to make a
> career
> > > out of this set of keys, but I do want to do a decent job. Thanks for
> any
> > > ideas.
> > >
> > > Terry Farrell
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>