Front Rail Bushings

[Jon Page]

>...to remove the bushings was with a hot iron and damp rag.  Well, 
>that'll work fine if I'm >replacing keytops at the same time since 
>the steam will work the tops loose.  But I want to >remove front 
>rail bushings only, and I want to find out something that will work 
>better.

Use a Key Bushing Iron.  Make wetting wedges out of felt (hammer felt 
trimmings).
Make about 5, soak three ahead of the iron.  Add a touch of denatured 
alcohol to the water container as a surfactant.   A production would 
be to insert 3 soaked wedges into the mortices, after the first one 
is wetted, insert the iron.

When the bushing is sufficiently steamed, insert a newly soaked wedge into
the third one away, move the iron to the next bushing. As you go, 
adjust the temperature on the iron so that the bushing will be 
steamed enough for
removal while you are removing the previously steamed bushing.
It moves along quickly enough, figure 1 to 1.5 hr. per rail.

Once the steamed bushing is removed, insert a Spurlock sizing caul
to aid in uniform mortice dimensions.
-- 

Regards,

Jon Page
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070414/0a3ef22d/attachment.html