turning front rail pins....always a no-no?

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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In a message dated 12/17/2003 8:12:24 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
Piannaman@aol.com writes:



Hi all, 

I know this is a no-no for long term use, but is turning the front rail pins 
likely to do any lasting damage to key mortises?  I've done it before on old 
uprights where the cost of new key bushings is double the value of the piano. 

I'm working on a 20 year-old Baldwin 7 footer tomorrow where there is too 
much play in the bushings, yet the bushings are seem to be in good condition.  
This would be a stop-gap measure until the clients are ready to spring for a new 
set of key bushings, which I will try to talk them into. 

Just wondering, fire extinguisher in hand 

Dave Stahl 
          Hi Dave
  I couldn't resist getting my two cents worth in on this. We do a lot of key 
bushings. I often follow these jobs & I have tracked the longevity of a new 
set of bushings as for closeness of fit. It's surprising how quickly hard to 
medium usage pianos can end up with key bushing slop only after 1 to 4 years. So 
I say I agree with the 20% rule. Turn the pins. Otherwise we'd be changing 
bushings to fast and ultimately the key mortises suffer degradation. I believe 
the more permanent solution is using leather but haven't gotten there yet. I've 
seen leather as old as 100 years or more still tight & free.
  On last thing is you DO NOT want to turn bushings in Yamaha's & other 
oriental pianos that have the elliptical profiled pins that runs the entire pin 
length. If one does this it ruins the hole as they can't be turned back later 
without the pin fit becoming sloppy.
  Merry Christmas--Dale Erwin

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