What did you remove the oils with: scraping? Mineral spirits? Unfortunately (or fortunately), hindsight is not applicable here as I didn't install the keytops. David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mike Morvan Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 4:53 PM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: Filling fingernail gouges in sides of keys David, We do a lot of this work by machining off the eroded area and replacing it with wood of the same species and grain orientation, and in an ideal world I believe that this method is the best way to do the restoration, most other procedures are temporary fixes. Plus with this method you can take up the slack between the keys and improve the spacing while correcting the erosion. But with the circumstances as you have described that is not an option. You could use Durham's rock hard water putty, it is not solvent-based so it will not dissolve the keytop and it is close in color to the keystick. I have done this a few times in the past and the only problem is that you need to get out all of the oils deposited by fingers over the years or the stuff will not stick. Unfortunately you find out that it didn't stick when it is dry, not when your putting it on, wasting a lot of time. It's also a bummer to already have the new keytops on while applying the putty, yikes, hindsight is always 20/20. Good luck. Mike Blackstone Valley piano Michael A. Morvan 76 Sutton Street Uxbridge, Ma 01569 (508) 278-9762 www.pianoandorgankeys.com www.thepianorebuilders.com
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