Ivory keytops

[antares]

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On 3-jan-04, at 3:12, Richard Strang wrote:

> Hello, list,
>    Once again, I learned a big lesson the very hard way, so I thought=20=

> I'd
> share my grief with you all.
>    I worked on an old player upright last night. It was a 1907=20
> variety, but
> someone in California had rebuilt it very well. Why? Who knows? But it=20=

> was
> in very good shape, and close to pitch.
>    All the ivory keytops, the squares, were coming off. about 15 had=20=

> been
> off for quite some time, but the customer had saved them and gave them=20=

> to me
> to glue back on. I also gave a tug at all the rest that had not come=20=

> off yet
> and found that most of them were loose. I got out my trusty PVC-E glue=20=

> and
> proceeded to glue them all back on.
>    My big mistake? The glue paints on very white and pretty, and I=20
> took it
> for granted that it would dry that way and would hide the finger=20
> prints and
> other imperfections that were on the top of the keys that had not had =
a
> keytop on for a while. When I started taking the rubber bands off and
> reinstalling the keys, I got a big surprise. PVC-E glue dries =
perfectly
> clear, leaving all imperfections glaring through the keytop which were=20=

> all
> very well glued on now. The job looks terrible, even though there are=20=

> now
> keytops installed which I'm sure feel very much better than the key =
did
> without the ivory. Even so, it is very obvious which keys had been=20
> bare for
> a while. Should have I used another white glue, such as Titebond? I=20
> have
> always stayed away from the regular white glues for keytops. Anyway, a=20=

> word
> to the wise. Don't do what I did. If you are going to use PVC-E glue=20=

> for
> ivory keytops, make sure the keytop surface is WHITE before gluing.=20
> Lesson
> learned.
>
> Richard
>

Hello Richard, I am not an ivory specialist but I have found a neat way=20=

of fixing this problem.
Thanks to Susan Kline I make use of two different glues.
One is the white glue for wood and the other is the CA glue, the one=20
that glues very fast and for ever.
So what I do is this :
First I clean the wood on which the ivory top had been glued with my=20
sharp little pen knife, because indeed the stains of dirty fingers will=20=

shine through.
I also make sure that the ends where the ivory heads and tails connect=20=

are white again, although I am very careful not to scrape away ivory=20
and thereby damage the connection.
I also carefully remove old glue from the ivory itself, again with my=20
little knife. I do not sand because that is too rough and uncontrolled.
When I am sure that the surfaces are reasonably clean, I take from my=20
tool bag a small container with white glue and the CA glue. To spread=20
the glue I use a very thin wooden sateh stick of which I always have a=20=

few in storage because I also use them for applying glue on shanks etc.
With the sateh stick I very carefully apply a thin film of white glue=20
on the wooden surface of the key and also 'wet' the ivory connection=20
between head and tail.
With the CA glue holder I apply thin drops on the ivory and try to=20
spread that out evenly too, also on the connecting side but very very=20
thin.
Now I put the two together very precisely and press firmly for a minute=20=

or so.
That is enough, because the two glues have chemically bonded and the=20
ivory will probably never come off again and will look white and clean=20=

as before.
If the ivories have curled over time due to humidity changes, it is=20
another story because then you need key top clamps so the repair I=20
described above is an 'on the road repair'.
Again thanks to Susan Kline who invented the bondage of CA glue and=20
white glue.

friendly greetings
from
Andr=E9 Oorebeek


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Amsterdam - The Netherlands
0031-20-6237357
0645-492389
www.concertpianoservice.nl



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