Rebushing centers/mystery center pinning

[Richard Brekne]

Hi again Robin, a couple comments below

Robin Hufford wrote:

> Hello Richard,
>    .....  However, simply because the claim is made that the bushing 
> is hard doesn't mean, in my experience, they will be, perhaps yes, 
> perhaps no, perhaps sometimes and one probably will not know when until 
> perplexing difficulties arise.     One can  take the hammershank and 
> flange in hand and hold the flange tightly while trying to wiggle the 
> shank in a way so that the pin can be made to move back and forth in the 
> bushing and watch this motion.     A soft bushing will show  more motion 
> of the pin in the bushing  and that is a serious problem as it has a 
> really detrimental effect on the sound.  

Herein lies at least one tentative test for Barbaras flanges and it would be 
   nice to hear what she observes in this regard.  Up to this point I've 
been taking for granted that the bushings in question were as previously 
described.


> Sometimes, as I Barbara and I both have 
> experienced, repining is only a temporary improvement; in the face of 
> such a frustrating experience I tried the method I described.   It 
> appears, as I said, at least for the moment to have both worked at the 
> time of use in stabilizing the friction and wobble and led to no 
> discernible subsequent pining problem.   But, again, its purpose was to 
> deal with an overly soft bushing.  

I have to admit I've never tried the kind of solution you describe above, 
being hesitant to apply any chemicals at all to either hammers or bushings. 
  Too many unsatisfactory experiences for my part. What I have found works 
very well is to work a good deal of teflon powder into the bushing and 
burnish very agressively followed by a rather tight pinning. Generally if I 
do have a problem afterwareds it goes in the opposite direction and I need 
to loosen things up a bit. Perhaps I might give your suggestion a try tho on 
some spares I have. Never thought of using CA in this context before.


> If I were Barbara in this situation I 
> would find two or three really weak sounding notes from the middle and 
> low treble and change nothing else but the density of their bushings 
> with the mixture, or take the time to use water with alcohol, and judge 
> from the results.  I think is absurd even to have to do this lesser task 
> by necessity but even more so  when  it is necessary to take the time to 
> rebush  parts for which one has already paid good money to have 
> acceptable bushings come along with the rest of the order.   I'll have 
> to climb down off my soapbox here before I get myself really worked up!
> Regards, Robin Hufford 

Agreed, should be an un-needed operation for high quality parts. But then, 
assuming these are the new NY Steinway parts... we (I at least) dont know 
really what these are like from the get go. That said... the whole concept 
of bushings with such low friction does not appeal to me in the first place.

Cheers
RicB