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<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>I've been reading the article about banned import
materials in this month's Journal and something occurred to me half way
through. Particularly because at the moment I happened to be standing
next to an Obscurity & Sons junk piano with ridiculously thin ivories which
I am about to chop up and dump. One of the ivory substitutes that has been
around for a while is bone. It feels similar to ivory but it turns gray
over time and it is really thick. From what I understand this is due to a
lack of strength compared to ivory. Then it occurred to me- what about
"ivory veneer"? In other words taking thin slices of <U>pre-ban</U> or
<U>used</U> ivory and laminating it onto thin slices of bone. Assuming
this is feasible the key tops would be genuine ivory, not as thick or have
the graying problems as plain bone, and could stretch the remaining
reserves much further. It would also make it feasible to salvage some of
the better looking original ivory from junk pianos.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Has anyone attempted to try this? I've never heard
of anyone doing such a thing but it seams entirely possible. Why
not?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Rob Goodale, RPT</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>KLas Vegas, NV</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>