Ivory Keytops

[Mike Spalding]

Daniel,

One hour each would be right for top-quality traditional hide glue wafer 
work.  It includes a time allowance for prepping the key surface: 
removing all the old glue and muslin, filling divots, etc.  However, for 
an old upright, especially if you've got the old ivory pieces, and 
nobody's gunked them up with Duco, you could use the 
white-glue-on-the-key-CA-on-the-ivory technique at about 5 minutes per 
key.  See the archives for more detail.

Mike

daniel carlton wrote:
> hi list
>  
> i'm drawing up an estimate for replacing some missing ivory keytops on 
> an old upright, and i'm looking at Newton Hunt's labor guide. 
> according to Hunt, it takes about an hour to replace one head or tail, 
> so as i'm doing my estimate, it's looking like it's going to take 
> about twelve hours and cost about $500 at my labor rate. does that 
> seem right to everyone else? for some reason it just doesn't seem 
> right to me. it's seems a little steep. should i just charge a flat, 
> one-time fee for this job? maybe i'm thinking too cheap.
>  
> does everyone else agree that it should take about an hour for /each/ 
> ivory head?
>  
> any help or input is greatly appreciated
>  
> daniel carlton