Nothing you do to the sides is going to have much affect on the stiffness of the keys. The only way I've been able to effectively improve these actions was described in a Journal article I wrote on the subject: The Designers Notebook Action Power Part II - Improving Piano Action, Efficiency & Power December, 1996 ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Manufacturing Consultant 620 South Tower Avenue Centralia, Washington 98531 USA Phone 360.736-7563 <mailto:fandrich at pianobuilders.com> _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of A440A at aol.com Sent: August 29, 2007 7:22 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: stiffening keys Greetings, I have been wondering what to do with a mid-sixties Steinway. It has the Pratt-Read keys and they are sorta limber. I think this is due to the poor wood, and lack of large plates. so, since there is no budget for rebuilding the keys with new buttons and larger plates top and bottom, I have been wondering whether there is any stiffening to be gained by simply painting the sides of the keys with West System epoxy. It seems that it would gain something by soaking into the wood. I even thought about laying some strands of carbon fibers along the middle length and painting the epoxy over them,(I have seen this done on motorcycle fairing repairs, and was amazed at the strength it imparted). Anybody tried this? thanks, Ed Foote RPT ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070829/a72c6064/attachment.html
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