Refinishing ebony keys

Greg Newell gnewell@ameritech.net
Fri, 11 Apr 2003 23:19:13 -0400


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Pianotek just started carrying Transtint dies which , they say, are the 
densest pigmented dies they have come across. Perhaps that may help.

Greg Newell



At 10:47 PM 4/11/2003, you wrote:

>I am servicing a totally restored 1948 Steinway "M" .  The original ebony 
>keys were refinished by the restorer at the time of the restoration but a 
>short time later, in the customer's home, the finish proceeded to "flake 
>off" leaving little flakes of black paint on the white keys and unsightly 
>chips on the surface of the ebony keys.  The restorer took the ebony keys 
>back and re-refinished them, but again, a short while later, they started 
>to flake.
>
>I suggested to the customer that the best solution to the problem was to 
>strip the ebony keys completely and stain them with ebony anniline stain, 
>leaving nothing on the key's surface to chip.  She accepted this solution 
>so I took the keys and completed the work.  The result was very nice, the 
>finish being satin and uniformly dark in color, but not as dark as when 
>the keys were finished with black lacquer.  Although the customer is 
>willing to accept this finish as a compromise, she would like it more if 
>the keys were darker.
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions to this problem?
>
>Thanks fellow piano-techs.   John Gunderson, RPT.  NJ Chapter
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>

Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net 

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