Keytop Trimming Question

[Dave Smith]

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Looking for a little help on a keytop job for my Wing&Son upright project:

This is only my second keytop job, so I am pretty low in the learning curve, but did learn a lot from the first job on an old Merrifield upright.  Don't worry, these jobs are both unpaid, learning projects.    But the Wing&Son deserves probably more than my best effort.  Great old piano, which will be a gift for my sister when completed.  The old ivory key heads were all missing, so I removed the key tails, routed down the entire surface using a Genesis jig (thanks Rick Snelson), so that the thicker new keytops won't make the keys taller.   Fronts were all good shape, so just cleaned up and buffed them (ivory).  Got Vagius Satin Ivory one-piece keytops which match the ivory fronts.  Used PVC-E glue and clamped with rubber bands and scuba weights.  Keytops in the front part are all almost exactly the right width and lined up as well as I know how.  

Here is my question:   The keytop TAILS are generally lined up perfectly on one side but some overhang the key just a bit on the other side (generally on the right side of C's and G's, for example, in the tail area.)  They all fit nicelyhowever,  when installed with the sharps back in the piano.  Is it more important to have the keytops sides trimmed exactly even with the key wood, even if the keys fit nicely together and the cracks between them are straight and even before trimming?  Some of the old keys have worn and been sanded perhaps to the point that making the keytops exactly fit the key would probablymake the resulting job look worse.  It seems to be that the appearance of the final product is the KEY, so to speak, as long as any overhang of the keytop doesn't cause chipping or other failure problems, and as long as the tail widths dont create interferrence when installed.

I would appreciate any comments, both on my question, or on the overall job I described.  

Dave Smith
SW FL

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