<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Most of our colleagues will be familiar with repairing keys broken at the
<BR>balance rail mortise. A slip of hardwood veneer makes a wonderful repair for
<BR>this problem and also greatly stiffens the weakest part of the key. If thin
<BR>veneer is used, there is usually room for the increased width even if applied
<BR>to adjacent faces of neighboring keys. I like to make the veneer pieces long
<BR>enough and tall enough to cover the sides of both key button and shoe. The
<BR>veneer should be trimmed flush with the key, button, and shoe for a nice neat
<BR>job. I like to use epoxy or Titebond for the repair. CA is fast for an
<BR>emergency repair, but its capillary action tends to get it into places where
<BR>you don't want it - like soaked into the keybushings! I have never done this
<BR>repair to a whole set of keys, but estimate a very nice job could be done on
<BR>the workbench in about a dozen hours. I'd be inclined to try this before
<BR>replacing the whole key set unless the keys have other needs mitigating the
<BR>expense of replacement.
<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SCRIPT" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" LANG="0"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SCRIPT" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" LANG="0">- Tom McNeil -</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SCRIPT" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" LANG="0">
<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Castellar" LANG="0">V</FONT><FONT COLOR="#008040" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Castellar" LANG="0">ermont </FONT><FONT COLOR="#008040" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Castellar" LANG="0">P</FONT><FONT COLOR="#008040" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Castellar" LANG="0">iano </FONT><FONT COLOR="#008040" SIZE=5 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Castellar" LANG="0">R</FONT><FONT COLOR="#008040" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Castellar" LANG="0">estorations</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
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<BR>"All men are equal before fish." - <I>Pres. Herbert Hoover
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<BR>In a message dated 3/6/01 11:50:37 PM Eastern Standard Time, jminor@uiuc.edu
<BR>writes:
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<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> The piano is a D that suffers from "power loss" on some notes. In
<BR>some instances, the harder you hit the key, the less sound you get! So, I
<BR>pull the action and check to see if the tails are hanging up on the
<BR>backchecks. I notice an unusual amount of flex in the key itself. Upon
<BR>close inspection I see the balance rail buttons have been replace with
<BR>what looks like poplar, not a strong wood. Some of the buttons "give" when
<BR>you attempt to flex the key by pushing down on the key front while holding
<BR>the hammer down, or holding the back of the key down. I think the keys
<BR>have lost their strength and would like to test my theory by having a new
<BR>set of keys made. The theory applies to concert instruments that are older
<BR>and may have seen many years of heavy usage. I believe wood can fatigue
<BR>when stressed to it's limits repeatedly.
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<BR>John Minor
<BR>University of Illinois
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