<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Matthew,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>    I apply keytops for = a living and there are several factors to consider when choosing a top. The quality = of the keytop, quality of the piano, quality of the rebuild, = preference of the customer, knowledge and preference of the technician and = budget. Crappy "molded" keytops are nice if applied properly, and three thousand = dollars worth of new ivory is "crappy" if not applied properly. Molded keytops = have the advantage of being inexpensive, uniform in shape and appearance, and = relatively easy to apply with minimal skill, tooling and yields fair results. =  A disadvantage is that many people feel that they are a cheap top and as a = result do not use them. Other materials ivory, bone and the variety of plastics = are usually in a slab or oversize form and require more skill, tooling and = money. In addition when you go from a molded keytop with fronts attached to a = keytop without a front attached you double your workload. Vagias is a simulated = ivory top made of plastic and I've found that people either like it or = don't there is no in between. Ivorine (pyralin) is still around and preferred = to acrylics because of the plastics available it feels similar to ivory. = New ivory and bone are available and preferred by most but are costly and not = always in the budget.</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=toddpianoworks@yahoo.com href="mailto:toddpianoworks@yahoo.com">Matthew Todd</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, March 05, 2005 = 7:52 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Moulded Keytops</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Can some of you briefly list why the crappy "moulded" keytops are = not the way to go?  Or even list some personal experiences??  I = guess I would like a comparsion between moulded and the other keytops that are = available like Vagias, Ivorine, etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks!<BR>Matthew</DIV> <P> <HR SIZE=1> Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! <BR><A href="http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/">Yahoo! = Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web</A> </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>