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a single narrow front rail bushing

  • 1.  a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-08-2022 11:43
      |   view attached
    Greetings,

    Noticed this curiosity while resuscitating the key bushings on a NY S&S "D."

    Given that keyboards are cut from a single piece which, in recent decades, is routed out for the "shoulders" of the front rail keypin bushings cloth, how did a single bushing turn out narrower (front to back) than its neighbors? (As seen in the--hopefully--attached image, the mortise is shorter as well.) 

    Has anyone else ever seen this?

    Thanks,

    Alan

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    Alan Eder, RPT
    Herb Alpert School of Music
    California Institute of the Arts
    Valencia, CA
    661.904.6483
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  • 2.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-08-2022 12:40
    Bizarre, thanks for sharing it!.

    Obviously the key must have been replaced, though the narrow bottom mortise is still baffling. 

    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain






  • 3.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-08-2022 13:04
    I wonder if Kluge provided a replacement key without front mortise so it could be spaced to the existing set by hand making the front mortise.

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    Edward McMorrow
    Edmonds WA
    425-299-3431
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  • 4.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-08-2022 13:21
    These individual pieces do not look like they were ever part of one glued up board.


    Regards,
    ~ jeannie

    Jeannie Grassi
    PTG Registered Piano Technician
    Bainbridge Island, WA
    206-842-3721
    grassipianos@gmail.com




  • 5.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-08-2022 13:38
    Alan,

    If you look closely at the wood grain in the keys, it's obvious that the key with the "narrow" mortice came from a different piece of wood as the grain is at a different angle. Hence it must be a substitute key for the original one that might have been damaged beyond repair...

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    Israel Stein RPT
    P.O. Box 68141
    Jerusalem, Israel 9168002
    510-558-0777
    istein248@gmail.com
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Posted 01-08-2022 14:01
    Nice spotting  from the Israeli detective, hi Israel ! oh and btw  enjoying Netflix Blackspace !! , wow Tel Aviv looks so much different and so built up since my lengthy  visits there  in '71 and '73, I shudder to think how Eilat  must have grown…all  best. Martin.
    www.snowpianos.com

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    Martin Snow
    South Burlington VT
    617-543-1030
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  • 7.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-08-2022 14:40
    Thanks, Martin

    Yes, Tel Aviv is now an overpriced, traffic-choked big city at the center of an urban megalopolis that runs from Rehovot to the south to Raanana/Kefar Sava to the north. For some reason a whole lot of people still want to live there... I spent a few nights in Eilat back in the early seventies - it was basically a construction site surrounding a small village near the beach. We slept on the beach and "borrowed" lumber from one of the construction sites to make a bonfire to keep warm (it gets cold at night in the desert, even in the summer). Today it's a clump of hotels that butt up close to the Jordanian border on the north/east and to the Egyptian border on the south-west. Lots of nice beaches and fun things to do - with still somewhat of a small-town atmosphere. All of it surrounded by a pretty pleasant town. The weird thing about it is that until about a year ago, the active airport was right in the middle of downtown - with the runway splitting the town in two. It was really weird sitting in the downtown hotel room and watching the planes landing right outside your window. They built a new International airport ten miles outside of town, and closed the old one a year ago. Haven't been there since that happened (it's a really long drive through the desert) so don't know what they did with the real-estate. During the last month would you believe I got two requests to go tune pianos down there? Not interested... Anyway, good to hear from you. 

    Apologies for the off-topic, folks, couldn't help myself...

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    Israel Stein RPT
    P.O. Box 68141
    Jerusalem, Israel 9168002
    510-558-0777
    istein248@gmail.com
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  • 8.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Posted 01-08-2022 15:01
    …well the narrow front rail bushing can wait a minute or so….I do so remember the original Eilat  airport right close to center of town and also  esp in '71  very close to the original Peace Cafe  where among other things we would wait early morning to get hired for  day labor mostly in the fields or construction work….ok back to those  narrow bushings!….

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    Martin Snow
    South Burlington VT
    617-543-1030
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  • 9.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-09-2022 01:28
    So, is there anything else to be said about those narrow bushings? It's so much more fun to reminisce... That Peace Cafe is long gone, replaced by the standard chains - CafeCafe, Greg's, Aroma, etc. (Israelis are really addicted to American-sounding business names as well as anything else vaguely American).  And the endemic labor shortage is now relieved by permitted Jordanians coming across the border from neighboring Aqaba - now there's Peace for you... I guess  I missed out on that casual labor opportunity back when I was vagabonding around Israel back in '72 or so - I did my casual labor in Jerusalem as an extra in a Jesus movie shot in the Old City, and picking bananas and grapefruits on a Kibbutz by the Sea of Galilee... 

    OK, OK, signing off now - back to pianos...

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    Israel Stein RPT
    P.O. Box 68141
    Jerusalem, Israel 9168002
    510-558-0777
    istein248@gmail.com
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  • 10.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-10-2022 18:25
    Israel,              

                    Funny, I lived in Israel when I was 13 to 16 from 1978 to 1981. I also had the opportunity to be an extra in a few Bible movies, "Mary and Joseph - a love story", and "The Genesis Project" which had the goal of filming the whole Bible.  It was a blast. I got to go on locations, see how the movies were made, dress up, fed, and even paid a little bit. I have never been back to Israel since but have the intention to return for a visit one day in the not too distant future. 

                 Russell Schmidt -  30 plus year RPT from Lexington Kentucky

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    H. Russell Schmidt
    Lexington KY
    859-276-5015
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  • 11.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-12-2022 01:51
    Russel,

    Yes, sounds like you had a good time here. Let's hope this corona business ends soon, so you'll be able to visit - right now they aren't letting tourists into the country. You won't recognize the place...

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    Israel Stein RPT
    P.O. Box 68141
    Jerusalem, Israel 9168002
    510-558-0777
    istein248@gmail.com
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Posted 01-09-2022 08:45
    Perhaps the cutter head blow apart just starting on that key?

    Doug Mahard





  • 13.  RE: a single narrow front rail bushing

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 01-09-2022 09:38
    It also appears that the keyfront material is thinner than its neighbors.