Sanded plastic keys?

[Gilreath@aol.com]

Hello all,

While this process of sanding plastic keys in an attempt to imitate the feel
of ivory sounds good, I just have one observation.  On most of the high
quality, properly maintained instruments that I have had the privilege to
work with, the ivory has buffed to an extremely smooth finish.  It appears
that the grain pattern and rough texture that we are so familiar with is a
result of sweat and wear rather than necessarily a desirable characteristic.
 I guess that I would liken this to filing grooves into the hammers in order
to acheive that "broken in" tone quality.  Well, maybe it's not that extreme
but I would rather see some further R&D into new porous plastics that _will_
provide the same absorptive characteristics as ivory rather than sttempting
to acheive similarity by mimicking a possible undesirable side effect.
 Perhaps some of the old timers in the group can give some insight into just
how smooth the keytops were buffed in "the old days."

I guess anyone is free to flame, but I just don't see the emperor's new
clothes.

Allan Gilreath
Gilreath Piano & Organ Co.
Berry College
Gilreath@aol.com