<HTML>In a message dated 8/22/01 11:12:09 AM Central Daylight Time, pianolover88@hotmail.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">but there's no question that an extremely tight pin,that has NO bushing, is defintely harder to tune...example: the S&S verticals. Yes, the pressure bar makes them notorious for rendering problems, but the very tight, bushless pins cause major "flagpoling." I think many of you assumed, from that description, that I was referring to the pin being moved UP/Down as a result of bad hammer technique. ***Maybe I should specify; the pin will "twist" a very large amount, causing a BIG pitch change BEFORE the pin actually moves in the block. That's what i meant to say.***</BLOCKQUOTE> Terry. Again, the problem of tuning pins twisting, before turning, is not related to the pin bushings. That is related to very tight tuning pins in the block. Bushings are not going to make the pin block looser. You are still going to have tight pins, no matter what. Tight tuning pins is what we all have to learn to work with. As far as S&S verticals, that has nothing to do with tight pins. That has to do with strings rendering over pressure points. We all ache problems with those pianos. <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Btw, my hammer technique is quite effective; In most situations, and I emphasise MOST, my tuning time is about 50 minutes or less. </BLOCKQUOTE> I hope I didn't imply that your hammer technique was not effective. But you asked about how to deal with tight tuning pins in relation to bushings, and the problem you have with flagpoling. Flagpoling can be corrected by proper hammer technique. Wim</HTML>