In a message dated 8/4/99 4:06:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time, you write: << A lurker I am. Here is my $.02. This rookie associate has recently stumbled onto a glue, that does a superb job on plastic keytop replacements. Maybe others have already been using this, I don't know, but here goes. Elmer's makes a premium quality neoprene based contact cement, that is easy to work with. I have used it on 3 sets of keys without any problems...(snip) >> I don't mean to discourage you in any way and am pleased to know about the easily available and good glue you have found but there is more to replacing keytops than the gluing of new material procedure alone. When I read your post I think of my own experience, a lesson learned the hard way many times over. If you regularly do what I am about to make a point of, then I apologize in advance for assuming that these very important items are being overlooked. Many people, technicians and piano owners alike look at their old, irregular keyboard with ivory pieces missing and see those bright, shiny new preshaped, molded keytops and assume that it would be a simple task to "recap" the old keys. But there are two dimensional differences between the preshaped keytops and the original ivory which also must be accounted for in order to have a keyboard that is playable when you finish. The new plastic is thicker than the old ivory so just gluing on a new plastic keytop without precision planing down of the key will change the key's dimension. The sharps will now "bury" themselves between the white keys. If you decide to do this anyway or encounter another keyboard done this way without compensation, you can compromise by altering the plane of the sharps. Using a medium to thick card punching and/or smaller shims as needed, you set the key height of the sharp sufficiently above the plane of the new white keytops. You also must compensate with card punchings under the front rail of the sharps. Don't overdo this either. If you sharps are too high, they may not fit below the tops of the balance rail pins and may also present a fitting problem with the fallboard and or key upstop rail. So, don't go by arbitrary specs such as 1/2" for sharp height. Find out the least amount you can raise it and still have a full range of motion and adequate aftertouch for the sharp key with it still bottoming out slightly above the plane of the new white keytops. The other important point is that the molded plastic keytop is usually wider than the original key. Simply gluing on the keytop without trimming the sides leaves a kind of ridge on one side of the key or the other that is very irritating to the pianist. Sometimes, the pianist will catch a finger in that ridge which will interfere with normal playing. Also, the narrow part of the keytop may greatly overlap the wooden key and cause rubbing, knocking or clicking of the keytop against the sharp, especially if the key bushings are not up to good specs (a very common condition). If the gluing job starts failing after a few years, the whole thing becomes a small tragedy. However, being able to make a spot repair of a loose or damaged keytop, or to glue back on a few ivories for a customer who has an older piano that is otherwise reasonable is a good and proper thing to know how to do. I encourage you to pursue the keytop replacement market however because I know there is lots of needed work. Getting the right planing equipment and learning to trim with nice regular and square sides and corners will be a satisfying occupation for you. Also getting and learning to use keybushing equipment such as that which Bill Spurlock RPT has developed and marketed can compliment the key covering work you do and make your customers really pleased and you proud of your work. Good luck, Bill Bremmer RPT
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