"Too much playing doctor is bad for your piano!"

White or yellow carpenters' glue or contact cement are poor choices for
re-gluing ivories.  The result is often a discoloration of the ivory.

I have seen numerous shades of brown and bluish-purple(!) ivories when
these adhesives were used.  (How many times have I had to reglue
ivories that had been reglued with the wrong glue!)  Also, some glues
such as contact cement simply lose their holding strength after too
short a time.

The correct glue is a natural hide glue with a white pigment in it,
which is what was used in the first place.  There are also white linen
glue wafers available, but I find these are often too thick.  I use
fish glue whitened with titanium dioxide powder.  Liquid hide glue
would work fine, too.

Just as important as using the right glue is to remove the key from
the keybed to use the special clamps and cauls which facilitate a
professional job.

Please, please do not squirt some adhesive on the key, slap down the
ivory and hold your thumb on it for 20 seconds.  The instruments we own
and work on have the potential to outlive us and bring joy to future
generations.  Let's respect them as such and give them the treatment
they deserve.  If you are unwilling or unable to do any repair in a
professional way, call in an expert who can.

Regularly here in the MMD we read horror stories of rebuilders scraping
silicone and other, usually unknown sealers (roofing tar?) from player
parts. There is nothing worse than tackling a repair that was botched
by a previous "technician", amateur or otherwise.

It doesn't make any sense for anyone to get involved, for example, in
repinning (i.e. buying the tools, materials etc.) to repin a few flanges
on his or her piano.   The same holds true for other seemingly simple
repairs such as regluing ivories.

These things cannot be done properly with the tools and materials
found in a handyman's workshop and without the proper background
knowledge and experience.  I can't imagine anyone reading step-by-step
instructions to repinning or, say piano tuning, and being able to
actually do it successfully any more than reading directions on how
to drive a car and then drive across town for the first time.

The urge to tinker is in almost all of us.  Lord help us to know when
to resist that temptation.

Jurgen Goering - Piano Forte
Vancouver Island