key bushings

[Paul E. Dempsey]

Wim,
These are practice room grands at your University, right?
Music students and aspiring pianists and piano teachers are using these 
instruments,right.

I know that at my school, the piano majors line up to get into the 
practice rooms that have grands, not so much for rooms with uprights.

Don't we want to provide the students our best shot possible?

The plastic inserts just don't work. They are noisy and wear faster 
than felt.

I'll echo Vinny's suggestion about using leather if you're concerned 
with premature wear. And, if there is so much wood missing that high 
quality felt or leather still won't make the grade, then the key 
bushing mortices can be dadoed out and a new hardwood insert can be 
glued in( you can make these yourself with some 1/8 to 3/16" strips of 
maple,etc. on a router table. This doesn't take all that long and the 
results are highly satifactory.


Wimblees@aol.com wrote:


>It's always fun to go off on tangent on a questions. It adds some 
levity to 
>the list. (Can I throw in my glue gun?)
>
>But besides just telling I should not use plastic bushings, I don't 
think any 
>one told me why they should not be used. Remember, I want to put these 
on 
>practice room grands, not the concert grand or the piano teacher's 
studio 
>pianos. 
>
>Be gentle
>
>Wim 
>

-------------------
Paul E. Dempsey RPT
Piano Technician
Department of Music
Marshall University