[CAUT] Teflon and felt bushings

[Barbara Richmond]

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Hi Joel,

No, these centers were all Teflon with regular, not very good quality =
knuckles.  The pianos were from 1969 and the early 70s. I just =
remembered I used the old inventory cards from IWU for my Christmas =
mailing list, so I could look up their serial numbers.  Of course, I =
moved when things got interesting--the full time, with benefits staff =
position had been approved AND a piano replacement and rebuilding =
program was put in place.  (I had also put the inventory list on a =
computer.)

My question is what caused the heavy touchweight in the Teflon actions.  =
Alan mentioned the problem of measuring because of resistance =
(interia?).  Was there anything else?=20

We have a 1920s B here at Braden Auditorium that got a new action =
sometime during the Teflon era!   It's heavy and I believe I will be =
getting permission soon to replace the action.  If I have time, I'll =
take a close look at the geometry of those parts.


Barbara Richmond, RPT
Braden Auditorium  (not part of the School of  Music at)
Illinois State University   :-)=20


  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Joel A. Jones=20
  To: College and University Technicians=20
  Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 12:53 PM
  Subject: Re: [CAUT] Teflon and felt bushings


  Barb=20

  Would you have had some of the early transition to teflon pianos=20
  at IWU containing the felt knuckles? UW-Madison had this situation =
with
  Steinway of the late 60's early 70's. I'm guessing there may be=20
  some of those set-ups still in the field.=20

  We boxed the hammer assembly and sent back to Steinway=20
  where the new knuckles were replaced. They did a great
  service to our 40 grands, but I knew of other pianos=20
  that didn't get the factory repair.=20

  Problem came from the knuckles deforming and not remaining
  round. Replaced with the traditional knuckle the actions worked
  very well. The teflon was not replaced.=20

  Is that what you were asking about?=20

  Joel
  Joel Jones, RPT
  Madison, WIl
  On Nov 14, 2005, at 12:25 PM, Barbara Richmond wrote:


    Fred,

    =20
    Ah.  When I started at IWU, I followed a technician who was hard of =
hearing--so he couldn't hear the Teflon clicking the faculty complained =
of.  His solution was to pin everything fairly tight.  <wince>   Anyway, =
I repinned the worst of them, but they were still on the heavy side.  =
There was no rebuilding budget at the time (and David Stanwood was just =
coming out with his touchweight stuff when I moved away).  I simply said =
that I had done what I could until the action could be replaced.

    =20
    So, if there isn't a touchweight issue with a Teflon repetition and =
a felt hammer flange, the bulk of the problem must be in the hammer =
shank/flange.  Did the knuckle mounting distance change from Teflon to =
felt or was it just the nature of the Teflon?  Or, did the knuckle size =
change (or whatever)?

    =20
    Barbara Richmond

    =20
    PS  Following someone who cannot hear and won't admit it, is rough.  =
He also over-tightened screws--again to compensate for not being able to =
hear such clicking.  Dealing with broken damper wire set screws was my =
least favorite job.

    =20

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