steinway keys- Mr. Morvan

[MICHAEL MORVAN]

Edward,
    In the picture it is ivory attached to a piece of wood, the ivory is 
actually very thin. It is normal and smart to have a thin piece of wood 
glued to the front of the key under ivory or bone fronts.  The reason is 
because nothing glues well to end grain in this manner (a butt joint). 
Ivory and bone are less porous than wood so their joint is even poorer 
still, again, in this manner, but if you glue your ivory on to wood first, 
usually Basswood, it will glue up better to the end grain than the ivory or 
bone by itself, thus giving you the most effective glue joint for the 
situation. Plastic fronts don't have these same problems, they are not a 
natural material, and don't expand and contract like ivory and wood, plus 
they are not porous, so their bond works on a different principle.   Mike


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "E" <efarmer at wowway.com>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: steinway keys- Mr. Morvan


> Hello Mike,
>          In your picture is that ivory attached to a thin piece of wood 
> (maybe so the ivory is not glued to end grain wood??) or is the ivory a 
> lot thicker on the fronts?
>                               Thanks, Edward Farmer
>
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