Flange Bushing Cloth

[Benny L. Tucker]

Mike, Terry, Isaac, and Xavier,
    Thanks for your replies concerning the flange bushing cloth. I think I
would like to order a couple of pieces of the Renner cloth, but I can't find
it anywhere on their website, or the Lloyd Meyer website. Who do you guys
order this stuff from? I don't have an account with Renner at this time.
Thanks again for your help!

Benny L. Tucker
Yamaha Factory Tuner
Precision Piano Tuning and Repair
Thomaston, GA.
Benny,

There's good discussions on how to do this in either Steve Brady's "A Piano
Technician's Guide to Field Repairs", or a Bill Spurlock article in the PTG
Technical Exam Source Book.  To answer your specific questions:  A #37
drill works better for reaming than a 7/64.  At  0.104",  It's only a
couple thousandths of an inch smaller, but it usually is a better fit to
the original hole, so it removes only felt, not wood.  Turn
counterclockwise while inserting, then clockwise to ream.  Tearing your own
strips is the only way to go:  more economical than buying pre-cut, and
nobody's gunked it up with graphite.  the rule of thumb for bushing cloth
width in small holes is about 2 1/2 times the hole diameter, which  says
that  17/64 should be about right.  Control the width by nicking with a
razor, then tearing from the nick.  The torn width will appear wider than
the nicked width because of the edge fuzz, so you might have to do a couple
to get calibrated.  Renner sells bushing cloth in approximate 1 square foot
pieces for about $10 each, choice of  four thicknesses: 1.0mm, 1.2mm,
1.35mm, 1.5mm.  I haven't done any flange centers for a while, but I think
the 1.0 works out about right in a .104 hole.

hope that helps,

Mike Spalding

Benny L. Tucker
Yamaha Factory Tuner
Precision Piano Tuning & Repair
Thomaston, Ga.