Teflon Bushings, (S&S)

[Delwin D Fandrich]

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  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Tompiano@aol.com=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: August 06, 2003 4:28 AM
  Subject: Re: Teflon Bushings, (S&S)


  Yes, changing their entire traditionally made action parts to the =
Teflon style was a bold move. And yes, you have to give them credit for =
venturing out.=20
  But.... the flip side of Steinway is this ultra-conservative company =
which, to this day, is paranoid  (and in no hurry) when it comes =
changing a lousy screw. They will test, test, and further test the =
validity and durability of a screw for over a decade before actually =
making the change.
  That being said, I still find it rather interesting  how  Teflon =
passed their testing regiment. The problems would have had to show up =
early on in testing and demonstrate that this material was going to =
cause oodles of problems. Maybe during those dark years ( as Steinway =
refers to it) they completely left their guard down and let things slide =
a bit.
  Tom Servinsky=20

To understand this you have to go back a few years and consider the =
shape the company was in at the time these bushings were introduced. For =
decades leading up to this point relatively little money was being put =
back into the company to maintain or upgrade either the facility or its =
equipment. (It wasn't until the CBS buyout that the company turned the =
corner and started on the road back from oblivion.) At the time the =
action making machinery was in pretty bad--as in really bad--shape. =
Compared to the sloppy felt bushing work being done at the time the =
Teflon bushing looked pretty good. If it was rushed to production it was =
probably out of desperation. It seemed a perfect solution--instant =
action centers without the necessity of having to put all that money =
into maintaining all that horribly obsolete equipment. Not to mention =
the huge amounts of time it would take. I'm sure the company knew how to =
test these things properly but they may not have had time.

In my opinion the Teflon bushing was fundamentally a good idea. The =
initial implementation was flawed--the small, smooth surfaced bushings =
that were poorly fitted to sloppily drilled holes in poorly conditioned =
wood didn't work very well in the real world. Ribbing the outer surface =
of the bushing helped and increasing their diameter helped even more. =
All of the various reasons for the problems of these bushings has been =
hashed and re-hashed many times on this list. I'll just say that had a =
method of adequately stabilizing the wood been worked out, had better =
precision and quality control techniques been implemented during =
assembly and had workable techniques for field service been developed =
earlier on we would probably still be using them. And we'd probably be =
wondering why the rest of the industry still refused to adopt them.

Del

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