Plastic Keytops
By Colin Hinz
About 11 years ago one of my uncles junked an old piano. He said it was unusable because the tuner told him it "had a cracked sound board". (I really, really hope the guy meant or said "pin block", not "sound board"!) Anyway, I asked him to save the keys for me, which he eventually did. I'd no intention of using the key tops to repair another instrument; I just wanted them because they were too interesting an artifact to throw away. (I wish I'd saved the rest of the action as well...oh well.)
Anyway, after being in storage for a decade, I have them shipped to me. I open up the box, and the white key tops are PLASTIC! My ten-year-old recollection of "ivory keys" was wrong! And some of them are chipped or missing anyway, so that was a big waste of time. Aaargh!
So, given the number of trashed ivories on my current project (of the fronts, 1 lost, 15 chipped, and another 25 with unsightly cracks; 4 badly stained tails, 1 broken, and #1 has a cigarette burn -- grrr!) it looks like I'll change this over to plastic. Any suggestions on a good source of supply? I'm more interested in preserving the feel of ivory as much as possible, instead of the appearance. Plain white key tops are okay if they don't feel greasy!!
Colin Hinz
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(Message sent Sat 25 Jan 1997, 19:22:19 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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