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Hello Barbara,<br>
I think it is vital to properly shrink and stabilize the bushings
after installation. Otherwise, you will be where you are now with the
inadequate Steinway parts (something ridiculous and telling in itself
for a company in business doing this for 150 years,) you refer to in
recent posts, that is, the friction will not be stable and the hammer
will also wobble causing a loss of power. <br>
I have used shrinking fluid combinations with proportions ranging
from 50/50 to 75/25 or so, water and methyl alcohol and had good
results. Although, I have had, on occasion, a need to do some over, as
some were still, after drying, loose. These were then rendered
acceptable after another treatment. <br>
An interesting new possibility, which had occurred to me one day
as I was waiting for a conventionally treated set to dry and is, as far
as I can tell, a completely new technique since I have not seen it
referred to anywhere or heard any discussion about it elsewhere, I
decided to try on a set of Tokiwa shanks which had a very soft,
unstable bushing that responded to pining exactly as you describe with
the Steinway, is, perhaps, better. <br>
This method uses water thin CA glue thinned even further to
about about a 90/10 acetone/glue mix. It occurs to me now, as I write
this, that it may work better if a little methyl alcohol is added as a
wetting agent, if possible, although I haven't done this. There may be
complications if alcohol is used which I am unaware of at the moment. <br>
As you know, of course, the CA rapidly sets and this
characteristic obviates the need for the prolonged drying necessary
when using water. One can vary the mixture as desired to control its
effects, but if too much CA is used it will make the bushing so hard
that it will click and this defeats the purpose of its use. Too
little and there is not enough stability induced in the bushing. <br>
On the piano I tried this on I have had very good results; the
pining is stable and there was a noticeable increase in power. I tried
at first to apply it simply by dripping the mixture onto the bushing:
this does have an effect, but, eventually, I removed the pining, wetted
the bushing and then reinstalled a pin. Perhaps, as I indicated
above, a wetting agent like methyl alcohol will make it possible to do
this without even removing the pining. All of the flanges on this
piano had already been repinned, some twice or even three times. They
had progressively loosened as you described earlier. <br>
Judging from your recent posts you are considering rebushing the
inadequate Steinway shanks you have referred to. I would try this
technique before rebushing were this problem one I had to solve. I
think, once resigned to rebushing, you have nothing to lose. <br>
Regards, Robin Hufford <br>
<br>
Barbara Richmond wrote:<br>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Here's a question for you who
rebuild action parts:</font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I've rebushed flanges before, you
know, one here or there, but have never done a whole set.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Are there any secrets besides just
plain old rebushing? For example, do you shrink the bushings after
you've put them in?</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Thanks,</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Barbara Richmond, RPT</font></div>
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