turning front rail pins....always a no-no?

[Isaac sur Noos]

Plus turning the front pins more than just necessary to even the side
play, can lend to a way excessive side friction soon during the
playing (felt like very sluggish keys).
So even with the use of modern lubes, it is not a good temporary fix,
an I concur to avoid work that should be undone afterthat.
As rebushing the 2 sets of mortise is 6 hours work you can do that for
a not excessive cost (assuming you have the good tools, and that no
precedent butcher/tech have glued the old cloth with vynil glue ).

Why do you have to "try" to talk to the customer that their 20 years
piano need repair after you tune it ? it is not you that make the
wear. It is too confortable  to the customer as well to the tuner to
believe that all is perfect when the piano is tuned on a regular
basis, but that is the most common encountered liar I meet in that
trade. Sometime it is boring (nothing personal, Dave)


Best Regards





-----Message d'origine-----
De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la
part de Dave Nereson
Envoyé : mercredi 17 décembre 2003 09:31
À : Pianotech
Objet : Re: turning front rail pins....always a no-no?


----- Original Message -----
From: <Piannaman@aol.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 8:53 PM
Subject: turning front rail pins....always a no-no?


> Hi all,
>
> I know this is a no-no for long term use, but is turning the front
rail pins
> likely to do any lasting damage to key mortises?  I've done it
before on old
> uprights where the cost of new key bushings is double the value of
the piano.
>
> I'm working on a 20 year-old Baldwin 7 footer tomorrow where there
is too
> much play in the bushings, yet the bushings are seem to be in good
condition.
> This would be a stop-gap measure until the clients are ready to
spring for a new
> set of key bushings, which I will try to talk them into.
>
> Just wondering, fire extinguisher in hand
>
> Dave Stahl
>
    The bushing cloth will wear faster after turning the front rail
pins since a narrower surface will be rubbing on the cloth, but no, I
don't see how any damage to the mortises themselves would come about
(unless the cloth wears all the way through to the wood).
    The trouble with turning pins, though, is that it is then harder
to space the keys since when you try to bend the pins left or right,
they "try to turn themselves back straight again" and they're more
liable to be nicked by the tool.  Then later when you have to bend
them back straight, it's harder to get them back the way they were,
plus it loosens them a bit in their holes.
     I tune a 10-year old (Asian) "Wurlitzer" that already needs key
bushings badly, yet my old upright built in 1904, which I've played
heavily for 20 years (and plenty of other owners for the 80 years
before that), has the original bushings and there's still almost no
side play in the keys!  They must not make bushing cloth like they
useta!
    --David Nereson, RPT

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