<HTML>Paint stores = use titanium dioxide as a whitener for their paints.  I asked this same= question on this list a couple of years ago, and promptly went in to my loc= al Kelly-Moore and asked for some, expecting to buy a small amount for a lar= ge amount of money.  Au contraire, the employee who helped me GAVE me a= small jarful.  I guess it's pretty cheap and easy to come by.  &n= bsp;And it works! In a message dated 1/2/04 9:52:28 PM Pacific Standard Time, cdgregg@telu= s.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">White Gesso or acrylic tita= nium white pigment from your local art supply mixed with high tack fish glue from Lee Valley Tools will do a nice job = of gluing on your ivories, if you are not using ivory wafers. Chris Gregg At 08:48 PM 1/2/2004, you wrote: >Thanks Richard, > >ivory : ivory glue (hide + titanium) or if not possible whitening yo= ur >usual glue with titanium or a white stone powder. > > > >------------------------------------ >Isaac OLEG >accordeur - reparateur - concert >oleg-i@noos.fr >19 rue Jules Ferry >94400 VITRY sur SEINE >tel: 033 01 47 18 06 98 >fax: 33 01 47 18 06 90 >mobile: 033 06 60 42 58 77 >------------------------------------ > > > > -----Message d'origine----- > > De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org > > [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la > > part de John Ross > > Envoyé : samedi 3 janvier 2004 03:29 > > À : Pianotech > > Objet : Re: Ivory keytops > > > > > > Hi Richard, > > I know the PVC-E will come off the plastic keytops with > > water. Did you try > > and remove it? > > The glue remains flexible, so you could also try a razor blade= . > > The PVC-E should be OK. I sometimes use Duco cement. But > > with all the glues, > > keep your fingers clean. > > Regards, > > John M. Ross > > Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada > > jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Richard Strang" <rstrang@pa.inter.net> > > To: "pianotech (E-mail)" <pianotech@ptg.org> > > Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 10:12 PM > > Subject: Ivory keytops > > > > > > > Hello, list, > > >    Once again, I learned a big lesson the = very hard way, > > so I thought I'd > > > share my grief with you all. > > >    I worked on an old player upright last = night. It was a > > 1907 variety, > > but > > > someone in California had rebuilt it very well. Why? Who > > knows? But it was > > > in very good shape, and close to pitch. > > >    All the ivory keytops, the squares, wer= e coming off. > > about 15 had been > > > off for quite some time, but the customer had saved them > > and gave them to > > me > > > to glue back on. I also gave a tug at all the rest that > > had not come off > > yet > > > and found that most of them were loose. I got out my > > trusty PVC-E glue and > > > proceeded to glue them all back on. > > >    My big mistake? The glue paints on very= white and > > pretty, and I took it > > > for granted that it would dry that way and would hide the > > finger prints > > and > > > other imperfections that were on the top of the keys that > > had not had a > > > keytop on for a while. When I started taking the rubber > > bands off and > > > reinstalling the keys, I got a big surprise. PVC-E glue > > dries perfectly > > > clear, leaving all imperfections glaring through the > > keytop which were all > > > very well glued on now. The job looks terrible, even > > though there are now > > > keytops installed which I'm sure feel very much better > > than the key did > > > without the ivory. Even so, it is very obvious which keys > > had been bare > > for > > > a while. Should have I used another white glue, such as > > Titebond? I have > > > always stayed away from the regular white glues for > > keytops. Anyway, a > > word > > > to the wise. Don't do what I did. If you are going to use > > PVC-E glue for > > > ivory keytops, make sure the keytop surface is WHITE > > before gluing. Lesson > > > learned. > > > > > > Richard > > > > > > PS. The player was also rebuilt. All the bellows were > > new. The entire part > > > that sits over the keys was in new condition. Much of the > > rest of the > > player > > > mechanism was gone though, so the player will never play > > again. Anyone > > need > > > bellows? Other parts? > > > > > > _______________________________________________<FO= NT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" S= IZE=3 PTSIZE=12 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQU= OTE> </HTML>