key wood problems

[Wippen@aol.com]

Avery Todd writes:
(snip)

>I have a Yamaha vertical that, somehow, got several keys up >above the
keypins. The tops of these pins come to a fairly >sharp edge and when the
keys were pushed back down the pin >got in between the bushing and the wood.
This has caused >some wood damage in the bushing hole. Does anyone have an
>idea of how to repair the wood to make a flat glue surface again.

                    ________Reply_______

Avery,
Don't you just hate it when that happens?
However, it is a fairly straight foreward woodworking repair.

First, set up your dado blade on your table saw, or you can use a straight
side cut routerbit on your router table. Set it so that you cut the entire
front rail mortise out to a depth of 1/8". The length of cut should be 5/8"
to 3/4".  Try to leave as much wood as possible at the very front edge of the
key.

Next, fashion some wood inserts cut to the exact dimension of the cut-out you
just made, leaving them a little wider and thicker to allow for sanding. Glue
in and clamp. Sand sides and bottem flush when dry. Choice of wood? Any close
grained softwood is fine. Maple(a hardwood) will do fine as well.

Now the tricky part. Put the key on its balance rail pin and carefully hold
the key in position over the front rail pin and lightly tap. You want to make
a small dimple in the new wood insert. Repeat for each key. Or, do all the
naturals first ,sharps last.
Using the dimple as a guide, drill a new hole(s) for the key pin. How big?
Measure the key pin and add the thickness of both pieces of bushing cloth.
Elongate the hole to the same length of its neighbors, keeping the sides
parallel and straight.
Rebush and ease as necessary.

This works well for a few keys. If many are involved you may want to fashion
a jig to facilitate cutting all the dados.

I have done entire sets of keys this way after they have been bushed one too
many times leaving the wood a mushy mess. It works great and doesn't take all
that long to do.

Good Luck

Paul Dempsey
Marshall University
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