<HTML><HTML><BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE">Dave asks: >>How old are these Steinways with 0.162” front rail pins? </BLOCKQUOTE>    This last one is a 1980, the front pins are .147". Using thin glue, .162"cauls, and stock cloth, I do very little easing.  I find that putting cauls in that are about .015" bigger than the pins gives me the right amount of clearance.   Barbara asks: >>Spring clamps? I thought they weren't to be trusted. Did you adjust them somehow to them to make the "spring" evenly or with less pressure? About clamping pressure, wouldn't spring clamps increase it? Fred asks: >>Ed, I wonder at your using spring clamps, but saying you don't want heavy clamping pressure. Seems like that's a contradiction, but maybe I don't know what you mean by spring clamps.  .<< Gee, lotta questions.  so,  here goes: When bushing a Steinway front mortise, I use the cloth (.53-.055") and a caul that is .162" in the front rail.  I use a very thin hide glue mix.  I found that the thicker the glue, the more of it on the wood, and the less felt there was after it was clamped into the glue by the caul.  A very thin glue mix allows me to clamp firmly,(which lets me cut cleaner) without losing felt thickness to glue saturation.  The keybushings last longer, this way. When bushing the balance rail bushings, I use the spring clamps, but I have reduced their open dimension so that they just lightly press the felt against the wood.  I cut the felt against a small wedge, (made from an old backcheck), that is inserted into the mortise afte the felt and glue go in.  By the time I cut both sides, the glue has tacked with the pressure from the wedge.  I pull the wedge, install the springs, and then the spring clamps just hold the felt in place.  This is slightly more labor intensive than the Spurlock system, but I get a decade or more out of the bushings, in teacher's studios.  I hope the felt quality of the Pianotek material is good, since I just rebushed 7 Yamaha pianos that were totally worn out after 6 years in the practise rooms.  Regards.    Ed Foote RPT ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour</HTML>