<html> <body> Hi, Barbara, At 08:11 PM 12/9/2004, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Robin,   Do you think if I did some tests on pieces of bushing cloth, I'd be able to tell anything? </blockquote> Yes - but, not as much as if you try it on some test parts...I think I might be inclined to try some scraps and then some test parts...just as a didactic exercise, if nothing else. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> I was thinking in particular about the 90/10 acetone/ CA mix and also trying out some with a bit of methyl alcohol mixed in, too. </blockquote> The above would certainly help you discover what works and what doesn't...AND...you could share that with the rest of us! <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> Does anybody know if I'll blow up or pass out or anything?  (That last one is the important one, I'm not a chemist.)</blockquote> Lots of venitlation... <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> I repinned some again yesterday, following very precise directions by folks who should know.   I was more aggressive in my burnishing and working the flanges and just generally pinning tighter, but by this morning, they had loosened some (I measured each step using my gram gauge).   The flanges went from too tight before working the flange, to the high end of being acceptable after working the flange. This morning they were at the low end of acceptable--which is OK as long as they stay there, but I have a funny feeling they won't stay there for long.  After this test of my pinning technique, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I'm not totally incompetent after all----maybe just partially....   :-)   </blockquote> They won't stay there long...it's a design feature of the system.  As Robin so accurately notes: "I think, once resigned to rebushing, you have nothing to lose." FWIW, I completely concur. Best. Horace <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">----- Original Message ----- <dl> <dd>From: <a href="mailto:hufford1@airmail.net">Robin Hufford</a> <dd>To: <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</a> <dd>Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 1:31 AM <dd>Subject: Re: Rebushing centers <dd>Hello Barbara, <dd>     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.  <dd>     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.  <dd>     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.   <dd>       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. <dd>      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.  <dd>      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.  <dd>       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.  <dd>Regards, Robin Hufford </dl></blockquote></body> </html>