On Fri, 7 Jul 1995 BDeTar@aol.com wrote: > So....back to the concert....how did I give him an action with controlled > friction all too shortly before the concert started? I removed every other > flange which gave me access to lick (why the piano remains annonymous!!) each > bushing. This introduced enough friction that he could gain control over > even the softest note. No, this was not a permanent solution. I was in the > next day and repinned all the flanges. The touch weight changed slightly > (about 3 more grams DW and a little less UW if I remember correctly), but it > turned out that it changed for the better. The other surprise, is that the > piano SOUNDED better (save that for another discussion)!! From that point > on, I repinned most of the flanges I used when rebuilding or troubleshooting > actions. You inadvertently hit upon a part of the repinning process that I forgot to mention in my earlier post--sizing the bushing. Rather than using a reamer (tapered or straight), I prefer to let nature do its thing in making the bushing fit the pin. I use a 10-15% water/denatured alcohol solution--a drop on each bushing--then let everything sit for a day or two. Since it's a tedious procedure, if I expect my invaluable apprentice to be unavailable for this operation, I'll do it a week or two months in advance of when I need the parts. I don't trim the pins until I've determined that the friction is right. This way, if it's too loose, I can pop that pin out and replace it with the next size without wasting a pin or *more importantly* wasting the bushing. (I HATE it when that happens!) (Torrella's Grand Delusion centerpin law: The end of the centerpin that will do the most damage to a new bushing is the end that will look most attractive to the push-out pin on your centerpin extractors when extracting said pin.) Ron Torrella School of Music ** STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY ** University of Illinois
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