Teflon bushings: (was Re: Pinning on new flanges}

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Keith!

You left out only one thing - staggering arrogance on the part of the 
company.  They might have been able to pull it off had cooler heads there 
prevailed.  As it was, the treatment of technicians in the field was simply 
execrable...and, yes, it was worse then than it is now.

Also, on a related note as to materials, we are still having the same kinds 
of problems getting action parts from things like graphite fibre into 
general use...ridiculous.

Sigh.

Best.

Horace


Quoting Keith McGavern <kam544@gbronline.com>:

> At 12:27 AM -0400 8/25/04, Sarah Fox wrote:
> >...  The problem with Steinway's Teflon blunder was the
> >loosening of the Teflon in the wooden hole with humidity changes. ...
> 
> Sarah,
> 
> I have to intervene as a result of this comment. Maybe you will 
> appreciate what I have to say, maybe not.
> 
> For the record what I am about to say is an inner unfoldment that I 
> came to solely after several years of working with repinning and/or 
> replacing teflon bushings.
> 
> If there is to be any blunder attributed to Steinway and the teflon 
> bushing experience:
> 
> 1) it was only in that company's over evaluation of the abilities of 
> the piano technicians in the field to understand the beauty of the 
> teflon bushing in all its glory,
> 
> 2) to not forsee the unwillingness of piano technicians to invest in 
> the necessary tools to work with them,
> 
> 3) and the capacity to truly understand the techniques as to how to 
> properly replace and/or repin them.
> 
> Those three things were, in my judgement, the main reasons for the 
> eventual undoing of the teflon bushing, not humidity changes.
> 
> Somebody mentioned it was ahead of its time. Hardly. In my opinion 
> the general populace of piano technicians during that era were just 
> unable to embrace it, so it got the bad mouth from those who never 
> really gave it the time of day.
> 
> Such is the way of some things.
> 
> Keith
> -- 
> Keith McGavern
> Registered Piano Technician
> Oklahoma Chapter 731
> Piano Technicians Guild
> USA
> 
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