Steinway balance rail bearings

[Barbara Richmond]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman at cox.net>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: Steinway balance rail bearings


>
>> You can lift the felt and slice off some of the wood of the bearing to 
>> mimic the half-punching trick--more work than a strip of veneer.
>
> ??? The half dowels already precede, rather than mimic, the half punching 
> trick without modification. Is there a measurable difference with the 
> slice?

Guess so.  Bob Marinelli suggested it in a class--or was it the bar?  :-)
I talked to a tech at CERS who had tried it, he said it made a difference.
Sorry, I can't tell you how much difference it made and I don't have
any pianos with bearings handy to experiment with.  Why don't you
give Bob a call?
>
>
>  > Someone said to me once that the bearings increased pulley key
>> syndrome.  I have no idea.  I have seen pulley keys on so many different 
>> kinds of pianos, that I can't offer any proof that bearings are a cause 
>> of that problem.
>>
>> Barbara Richmond, RPT
>
> Someone said to me more than once that "If you cross your eyes, they'll 
> stick like that." I tried it, and they didn't. When what someone tells you 
> doesn't make logical sense, and doesn't pass the empirical BS test, it 
> likely is (BS).

Yes, well I was young and impressionable back then--like now... Ahem.  I 
can't even remember who it was and usually I'm pretty good at that 
information.  I wonder what percentage of pulley keys are caused by someone 
trying to solve some other weight/friction/geometry problem by over-easing 
keys and balance holes.  That's a rhetorical question, BTW.  ;-)

br