I noticed that too! I've never been happy with the suede or vinyl tips. I have seen some 100 year old actions with felt bridle tapes that still work well. It seems superior to leather, which eventually falls apart. Felt would be easier to get on and off the wires too. I wonder why leather has become so standard, when it is one of the first things that breaks down on an old action? Ryan <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 3:08 PM, David Boyce <<a href="mailto:David@piano.plus.com">David@piano.plus.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> I noticed in the my.ptg pianotech postings (I no longer post there for the time being, but browse occasionally), that there was discussion of a nice alcohol burner. But what caught my eye was that at the bottom of the ebay page that displys it, is another catalog item from the same chinese company, for a bridle tape end punch. A year or two I grumbled in here about the fact that tape ends are no longer available from the UK suppliers. Whoever used to cut them from leather for Heckschers no longer does so. I mused on here about how one might get a cutter. US suppliers don't seem to have tape ends either I got some nice tape ends from Jahn in Germany, but it's not a cheap option. And now I see that there is a cutter! <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/very-High-quality-Piano-tool-Alcohol-burner-1623-/170683248017?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bd83ad91" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.com/very-High-quality-Piano-tool-Alcohol-burner-1623-/170683248017?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bd83ad91</a> Must see if this item can be obtained and shipped to the UK! Best regards, David Boyce. </div> </blockquote></div> -- Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Olympia, WA <a href="http://www.pianova.net">www.pianova.net</a>