- All the Action Geometry Buffs

[Dean May]

I just had an idea. Why remove the entire top? If they are securely glued,
perhaps you could remove only the thickness of your ivory from the plastic.
This would leave the final height alone (or very close) and would provide a
nice white base for your ivory. 

 

One method I have of removing keytops is sawing them on the table saw. I set
the fence so that it cuts off the thickness of the new top. This of course
removes the desired amount of wood at the same time. One could just as
easily set the fence so that it only cuts the thickness of your ivory. In
your case this would not remove all of the plastic. I suspect you would have
to use a pretty fine tooth blade to keep from chipping out the plastic. 

 

You could also use a router table set up with a jig that securely holds the
key upside down using a spiral bit. 

 

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272

Terre Haute IN  47802

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Byeway222 at aol.com [mailto:Byeway222 at aol.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 9:06 AM
To: deanmay at pianorebuilders.com
Subject: Re: - All the Action Geometry Buffs

 

Thanks for the quick replies to my posting. This piano is only 12 years old
and has the factory original keytops, so no material has been taken from the
key wood.

Points raised so far are very interesting. Raising the naturals, for some
reason, was not my immediate thought.  Yes, what about the ivory widths etc.
I still have to to check out fine details like this when I see the piano
again.  It is about 120 miles away at present, but I am trying to get all my
possibilities sorted before I take delivery in 3 weeks. I need to say, that
this is a piano I have bought for myself and that is why I feel more
indulgent about it than I would normally!

 

Ed Sutton asks what experience I have with ivory tops.  I have really only
done recovering/matching middle sections of old keyboards and had some
success with bleaching a couple of whole sets using the peroxide and black
flourescent light method.  If the ivory width works out (length of head is
ok) I will certainly welcome advice on preparation and adheisive for this
job.  So please keep the advice flowing.

 

ric

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