Ivory keytops

[John Ross]

Hi Richard,
I know the PVC-E will come off the plastic keytops with water. Did you try
and remove it?
The glue remains flexible, so you could also try a razor blade.
The PVC-E should be OK. I sometimes use Duco cement. But with all the glues,
keep your fingers clean.
Regards,
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Strang" <rstrang@pa.inter.net>
To: "pianotech (E-mail)" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 10:12 PM
Subject: Ivory keytops


> Hello, list,
>    Once again, I learned a big lesson the very hard way, so I thought I'd
> share my grief with you all.
>    I worked on an old player upright last night. It was a 1907 variety,
but
> someone in California had rebuilt it very well. Why? Who knows? But it was
> in very good shape, and close to pitch.
>    All the ivory keytops, the squares, were coming off. about 15 had been
> off for quite some time, but the customer had saved them and gave them to
me
> to glue back on. I also gave a tug at all the rest that had not come off
yet
> and found that most of them were loose. I got out my trusty PVC-E glue and
> proceeded to glue them all back on.
>    My big mistake? The glue paints on very white and pretty, and I took it
> for granted that it would dry that way and would hide the finger prints
and
> other imperfections that were on the top of the keys that had not had a
> keytop on for a while. When I started taking the rubber bands off and
> reinstalling the keys, I got a big surprise. PVC-E glue dries perfectly
> clear, leaving all imperfections glaring through the keytop which were all
> very well glued on now. The job looks terrible, even though there are now
> keytops installed which I'm sure feel very much better than the key did
> without the ivory. Even so, it is very obvious which keys had been bare
for
> a while. Should have I used another white glue, such as Titebond? I have
> always stayed away from the regular white glues for keytops. Anyway, a
word
> to the wise. Don't do what I did. If you are going to use PVC-E glue for
> ivory keytops, make sure the keytop surface is WHITE before gluing. Lesson
> learned.
>
> Richard
>
> PS. The player was also rebuilt. All the bellows were new. The entire part
> that sits over the keys was in new condition. Much of the rest of the
player
> mechanism was gone though, so the player will never play again. Anyone
need
> bellows? Other parts?
>
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