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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mark,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Ebony has been used since day
one on many different keyed instruments, and it was, and
still is, used for the naturals and sharps on keyboards. The
question you ask is tricky to answer, we replace a lot of sharps here on piano
and organ keyboards, many manufacturers used a poor man's ebony (different woods
painted black, plastics, etc..) on their lower end models, but used genuine
ebony on their better models. As for dates, I have noticed that a lot of
changes concerning the quality of materials and craftsmanship occurred
after the great depression and it all went out the door after WWII. Ebony and
Ivory are premium materials, always have been and always will be, but you cant
beat them with any synthetic. I've attached 3 pictures to this post, 1
painted mystery wood sharp, 1 plastic covered wood sharp and 1 genuine ebony
sharp restored. Mike</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Michael A. Morvan<BR>Blackstone Valley
Piano<BR>Dedicated To Advancing The Art Of Keyboard Restoration<BR>76 Sutton
Street<BR>Uxbridge, Ma. 01569<BR>(508) 278-9762<BR><A
href="mailto:Keymaestro@verizon.net">Keymaestro@verizon.net</A><BR><A
href="http://www.pianoandorgankeys.com">www.pianoandorgankeys.com</A>
<BR><A
href="http://www.thepianorebuilders.com">www.thepianorebuilders.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mconnell1@instruction.com
href="mailto:mconnell1@instruction.com">Mark McConnell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, January 24, 2008 4:46
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Real Ebony wood for
sharps?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><SPAN id=obmessage>Would anyone be able to enlighten me as to
when real ebony wood was used for the black keys on pianos, and when it was
replaced with another type of wood? Thank you.<BR>Mark<BR>
<DIV></DIV></SPAN>
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