[pianotech] Cleaning the filth off keysides.....

[Euphonious Thumpe]

Scrape the worst off with a razor blade ( wearing ventless goggles, gloves and a carbon-filter mask with pre-filters ) then wipe the rest off with a  scrub pad in alcohol, or a little soap and water and dry right away with paper towels.  ( But watch out for some kinds of alcohol on some kinds of keytops --- will dissolve! )
     But if you're doing a major rebuilding job, you can quickly dunk the keys in a  toolbox filled with Super-Clean (TM ), scrub with Scotch-Brite (TM ) rinse, and dryon a rack ( out of the sun! ) and they'll get VERY clean, with no substantial problems! ( Get the bushings out while they're wet, too, and put in your Spurlock bushing-sizing cauls, but tack town the keybuttons with brads, first, to keep them from coming loose. ) 

Euphonious Thumpe

>   >
>   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.  

I don't like the "plasticky" feel. I've buffed some keys with super-fine-steel wool and preferred it, but maybe the customer wouldn't. ( Take some sample keytops, treated different ways. ) 

Should they be
> left
>   > somewhere a little
>   > before the gloss appears ??     Pretty hard to do, I
> think.

Buff with super-fine steel wool and then wax?  Maybe that would create the "feel" you want. 
>   >
>   > Carl / Winnipeg
>   >
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