Just wanted to pass along a recommendation for a great book (For those who haven't read it) on the history of S&S. While I've read several other bio's on Steinway, this one is by far the best, not only in my opinion, but the critics love it also. Anyway, toward the end of chapter 18, the subject of "teflon" bushings comes up. It seems that Henry Steinway was hesitant about admitting this "breakthrough" was a mistake, and when they finally went back to felt (in 1982, after 20 years of teflon!) there were already 60,000 Steinway's sold with Teflon bushings. Here's the deal. When the weather was HUMID, the action became LOOSE! When the Humidity was LOW, the action became SLUGGISH! (Just the opposite of what normally happens!) The Teflon didn't respond mush at all to changes in humididty, but the wood surrounding it did. Here's an experpt: "In the dry winter the wood would shrink, making the bushing hole smaller, thereby squeezing the bushing so tight that the action became sluggish. In the humid months the wood would swell with water, making the bushing hole bigger. so leaving room for the teflon bushing to knock around." But wait a minute. If that's true, shouldn't the same dry conditions which cause the wood to shrink ALSO squeeze a FELT bushing tight as well, causing a sluggish action as well? Terry Peterson _________________________________________________________________ Check out the new MSN 9 Dial-up — fast & reliable Internet access with prime features! http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=dialup/home&ST=1
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