Contact Cement

[Joseph Garrett]

Regarding contact cements, there are several kinds. All, to my knowledge,
break down with age. (which falls under the category of DAMHIK!!). I agree,
that it is difficult to do an Ivory repair, in the field, using the correct
technique, but it is doable, just more work, (yikes, there's that word
again! Sorry.) There are only two glues that will suffice for "Good" ivory
repair, IMO: 1. Hide glue with titanium dioxide/Wafers/re-activating the old
glue. (These are very time dependent!) 2. PVC-E. I find this glue will work
if you do the repair first, before starting the tuning. It is possible to
play a note, without having the key. It's just a little harder to do. In an
hour or so's time the PVC-E will have a sufficient enough bond to stay and
you will be able to put the key back in the piano, just as you leave. I
usually caution the client to either not play the piano for 24 hours or at
least go lightly on the "repaired" key. This has worked for me. There used
to be a good glue, sold by Tuners Supply. It was white and had the odor of
Alcohol and Acetone. I suspect it was re-constituted plastic keytop scraps.
However it worked very well. Didn't discolor the appearance of the opaque
ivories. And it adhered fairly quickly. I have had to remove a few Ivories,
that I had used this stuff on, and found that it was extremely strong. It
was also fairly easy to scrape off. Hmmm? Anyone know what that stuff really
was?
Best Regards,
Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)

Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}