<html> <body> Hi Dale,                 Welcome to sanity and respect. My good friend Ted Sambell, turned me on to the Kangaroo leather from Schaff, it's sold under player parts.  It's fairly consistent at .050" thick. You need a good cutter board and rotary cutter, to cut the required strips. Lay the leather on the board. Cut the hide in half with a long straight edge.  Use 3 or 4 bushing cauls to align the straight edge to make the next cut. Slice away. I have used it on balance rails only, but the C3's I did a year ago, ( In university use) is standing up very well, and it's not noisy like the Renner leather. Sizing the mortice before bushing is very important for good results. After  the keys are bushed, we dust the leather with Teflon powder. I think the majority of wear to the FR bushing, is caused  by the wear on the balance rail bushings, that will cause the key to tilt.  Just my own theory. Regards Roger At 01:36 AM 1/22/2003 -0500, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>In a message dated 1/21/2003 7:33:02 PM Pacific Standard Time, PNOTNR@aol.com writes: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Subj: Re: Yamaha Key bushings (ideas how to remove) Date: 1/21/2003 7:33:02 PM Pacific Standard Time From: <a href="mailto:PNOTNR@aol.com">PNOTNR@aol.com</a> Reply-to: <a href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</a> To: <a href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</a> Sent from the Internet    Gordon</blockquote>       Speaking of institutional work has made me wonder if leather bushings would be a better choice for key bushing material. I've found that in heavy use/abuse situations that a new set of felt key bushings can be used up within a year. I've noticed some very ancient European pianos with the original Leather bushings intactand still well fit after a century of use. Is any one out there using leather routinely that can provide a bit of feedback as to the wear factor?    Dale Erwin    First Post on Caut list    Former pianotechy list deserter <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> Thanks David, I did manage to get them out (finally) but I probably used twice as much steam as I usually do.. Perhaps it's because these were fairly new keys (?)  I was just worried that too much water would create problems Everything turned out fine.  Keys are back in the piano, and I didn't have to do any easing of the new bushings.  (some of the balance holes were pretty tight, but the music building at Colby usually has an RH level around 15% this time of year so I think they'll dry quickly!) Gordon Large, RPT (Colby College, Waterville, ME) In a message dated 1/21/2003 1:33:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, davidskolnik@optonline.net writes: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Gordon </blockquote></blockquote> </blockquote></body> </html>