NPR- Abrasive Surfacer, (Planer)

[Clark]

Richard Moody wrote:

> I am beginning to think flush front ivory is better than
> replacing with plastic.  With keyboards missing up to 20 ivories using
> chiped fronts and filing/sanding them flush  is becomming more 
> attractive to me.  This is of course in instruments under $3000 in 
> value, but the value climbs each year I think.   ---ric

Actually, my cut-off is 10 missing ivories, depending on brand and age,
after which I strongly advise recovering with plastic. I send these out
to Ted Oberhaus, not before removing the remainder or heads and tails,
taping them together and saving them as sets for future use - chipped or
not. I'm more stringent with pianos we own, and kind of actively solicit
irreparable uprights for ivory salvage, among other things

Including very old instruments, I've seen variances in head length up to
at least 6 mm where I've reshaped longer chipped sets to replace broken
or missing ones in more deserving (or new) keyboards.

I've heard ivory dust can be allergenic or toxic, but surely it stinks
(ouf! so does Chestnut). Plastic, I think would clog sanders quickly.


Clark