Yesterday I visited a new client. They have a small undistinguished 1920s (overstrung underdamped) upright, fairly recently acquired. I noticed that about half the keys (celluiloid or some other plastic) were very bright and white. Of the remainder, half were very discoloured but clean, and the rest discoloured and extremely grubby. The chatty and pleasant 14 year old daughter, the one takiing lessons, explained that they had cleaned the keys themselves. I asked how they managed it, and that normally the safest thing was just a damp cloth and a little detergent. She said they had tried a variety of things, including the damp cloth with detergent, but that this had only cleaned off the grime, but not made the keys white. "So how did you get them white" I asked, fascinated. The answer? Nail Polish Remover! I asked what kind it was, explaining that they usually contain a fair amount of acetone, which would be liable to dissolve celuloid. She went and got the bottle and I had a sniff, and read the contents. Sure enough it contains acetone, but not, it seems, in a very high concentration, and along with many other ingredients. The mother said it seemed quite a mild one and took a while to remove nail polish. I tried "cleaning" a couple of keys with it myself, using a small swab of cotton wool and it worked like magic! A quick buff almost immediately after with a clean cloth left the surface with a sheen, and pearly white. I guess what is happening, is that the liquid is just strong enough to dissolve off a very thin layer, the discoloured layer, of celluloid, without damaging the surface at a deeper level. I'm amazed, and am rushing off to buy a bottle of that brand of nail polish remover! In the pic, what you see from bottom to top is: 1) Grimy unntouched key 2) Key cleaned with detergent, clean but discoloured 3) Key cleaned with the Nail Polish Remover 4) Key half cleaned by me, one simple stroke of the swab with the nail polish remover. It worked just as well on the fronts as on the tops. Best regards, David -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Clean Keys 3a.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 86577 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080422/29bf5a80/attachment-0001.jpe
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