Key cleaning

[RndyPotter@aol.com]

Allen Leigh, South Jordan, UT, said:
>Last week I posted a question about using 0000 steel wool to clean
keytops, whether it would scratch certain materials or not.  I
haven't received any replies, so I thought I'd post the question
again.  I did search the digests with the web search page and found
one reference to cleaning keys with 0000, and a couple of references
to polishing sharps with 0000.
If anyone has had negative experience with using 0000 to clean
keytops, I'll appreciate hearing from you.<

Response:
Yes, I have had some bad experience with steel wool and keytops. After I read
your posting I took some 0000 steel wool to a plastic keytop - scratched it
up pretty bad. Nope, I wouldn't use it on a client's piano, that is for sure.


But you did not say "why" you wanted to put scratches in them. I know an
artist who thinks keytops are too slick, and asks his technician, also a
friend of mine, to roughen them up a little bit before concerts. They use
fine sandpaper or steel wool. Wrecks a lot of keytops, that's for sure,
because most people don't want scratches in theirs - and the next person to
play the piano is usually not impressed with the feel, or look, of the keys.

If I want to smooth out old ivories, and they are thick enough to allow it, I
use very fine sandpaper, 600-1,000 grit or so, taped onto a piece of glass,
which is taped onto my regulating bench. Then I turn the key upside down and
rub it forward and back, lightly on the fine sandpaper, until I get the
result I am looking for. (I get the fine sandpaper at auto paint supply
stores.)
One must be careful, though, because on most keys, the joint at the head and
tail is cut in a V shape, so if you sand the top down very much you start to
get a gap here. White filler of some sort will be needed. See a separate
letter, titled Ivory Repairs, for more information on this. (I won't put it
here because it is a different subject.)

Normally, when I clean ivories, I clean them with luke warm water and a
cloth, or with a mild solution of Ivory soap, or with smoker's tooth paste.
Then I buff them on a cotton buffing wheel with rouge. (Sear's sells four
types of buffing compounds, in stick form, in a kit together, part no.
9-2896. I use the White Rouge for keytops.) Again, use care. If they get to
hot, the glue softens and they peel off!

Randy Potter, R.P.T.