I don't like steel wool on plastic. You end up with scratches which catch dirt and are hard to keep clean. A customer steelwooled his keytops and it has been a problem ever since...maybe buffing to a high gloss reduces the problem...I worry about heat and plastic....ivory is nothing like a sanded surface. David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 Original message From: "Carl Teplitski" To: Received: 1/26/2009 9:43:16 PM Subject: [pianotech] smooth or rough keys Reading the posts re. washing your hands, led me to asking this question. Many times in a customers home I've encountered a keyboard that was slow and sticky. I don't mean sticky, like tacky, but you can't run your fingures along the keys without feeling drag. Hate the feeling, so I suggest to the person I'm dealing with that I show them something that could help make playing easier . First I have them drag their fingures along the keys, and then I clean an octave. When they run their fingures from the keys that drag to the clean part, the difference is quite obvious. Even if they aren't the one playing, they can see that it should be easier for little Johnny or Mary to perform on clean keys. Most of the time, on my next visit, the keys are clean. My question is this: do most high skilled pianists prefer a smooth shiny keyboard, or one that has an ivory, sanded type surface? Not sure if I've asked the question properly. When I've steelwooled key tops to get them smooth , plastic or ivory, there is this feel I'm trying to describe. If it's plastic for sure, I will buff to high gloss. Should they be left somewhere a little before the gloss appears ?? Pretty hard to do, I think. Carl / Winnipeg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090201/b38dfa4a/attachment.html>
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