[pianotech] key making specs

[Mike Morvan]

Dave,
    We've made new keysets and have used maple and basswood for the shoes 
and buttons, most customers will specify what they want. We also make new 
button stock out of basswood, soft maple and poplar and up until a few years 
ago we've sold mostly basswood, now the trend is reversing, last year we 
sold 3 sets of maple to every 1 set of basswood. The hardwoods are 
definitely popular now.  Having  had the good fortune of working on new and 
old keyboards from Germany, Japan, China, England, and the U.S. we are quite 
surprised at the different schools of thought. Some manufacturers are using 
basswood, maple, cherry, poplar or beech for buttons and shoes (both 
flatsawn and quartersawn) and some manufacturers are not using shoes, 
buttons or inserts at all, simply relying on the sugarpine, spruce or 
basswood material that the keystick is made up of for the balance hole, 
which is insufficient and probably part of the reason that other harder 
woods are being sought out for these spots. I've also seen the same 
manufacturer use different materials for buttons, shoes and keysticks 
depending on the cost of the piano and whether it was an upright or grand. 
Having said that, it gets real confusing as to what is trying to be 
accomplished and why. Quality and longevity? Cost? Ease of manufacture? Who 
knows, but I do know this:
What causes
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 11:08 AM
Subject: [pianotech] key making specs


> Opinions about having keys made with maple shoes and maple buttons versus
> all bass wood?  Sizing issues and noise versus longevity are the issues.
> All the keys I've had made have both maple buttons and shoes but I'm not
> sure I like it.
>
> David Love
> www.davidlovepianos.com
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