Bob; I am coming into this discussion rather late...if my thoughts have already been expressed just consider them as another vote. :-) When I occasionally run into this problem what I do is sand down the bushing to the correct size, or a more correct size if you will. I accomplish this on a 1 inch belt sander or my vertical inflatable sanding drum. I take a hammer shank / dowel that fits well inside the bushing...not too snug or too loose....install a stop made from another bushing on the dowel far enough from one end to allow finger grip space at the end of the dowel where the stop is...... I then turn this stop against the sanding belt until the diameter is less than what I desire the bushings to be ........ then it is just a matter of putting the bushing to be reduced on the dowel. holding the bushing against the sanding belt at a slight downward angle ( toward the stop)... this angle will cause the bushing being reduced to spin and reduce the outside diameter to where you think it needs to be...... a coarser grit works better than a finer grit. sounds time consuming but after you get the hang of it only ten seconds or so per bushing is needed...... only a half to 3/4 an hour is needed to do the entire set. Works for me. Jim Bryant (FL)
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC