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Hi all,

do any of you know of a product or solution to the problem of slippery plastic keys on a digital piano (DGX-630)? I've tried licking my fingers, which makes a difference and I've tried hairspray which doesn't.


Thanks in advance.

Phil

There's a story from the technician Franz Mohr (I think) who described preparing the piano for Artur Rubenstein. Shortly before the performance, Rubenstein asked him if he has cleaned the keys to which Mohr said "yes". Rubenstein threatened right then to cancel the performance. Mohr came up with the idea of spraying the keys with hairspray and the performance went on as scheduled. Supposedly, Rubenstein liked the hairspray so much he continued to do it to all his pianos.


Edit: and I just reread your post and saw you already tried hairspray. Sorry about that. Have you tried hand lotion?

Have you tried just wetting your fingers before playing? I don't have the problem with slippery keys, but sticky keys. For some reason the plastic gets sticky with the humidity even though I keep my hands clean, and wash my hands prior to playing. There's nothing worse than sticky-feeling keys playing.

John

I don't have a solution but I would urge a word of caution about using any sprays that might get into the electronic works/contacts of a digital piano.

Regards,

What about that stuff they use to turn papers with? It comes in a little box and it's pink. You rub it on your fingers....get it at an office supply store.

Or worse... melt the plastic keys. This happened to one of my brother's customers. She cleaned her Macintosh keyboard with some desktop cleaner and it disolved the letters right off the keyboard and other keys to melt, depending upon how much of the cleaner puddled in the keys. Styrene and related plastics just about melt when attacked by certain cleaners. She learned the hard way on this.

John

Try rubbing the keys with toothpaste. That's probably the mildest abrasive you could use to "de-glaze" the surfaces and create some micro-ridges for friction. If that doesn't work, you could move-up on the abrasion scale (no pun) to treat the keys.

Then there's the baseball/football players tricks of using a rosin bag on your hands or a product called Pro-Grip (helps the receivers to snag a passed football like magic).

Of course, using any of the above methods means you've agreed to the implied waiver that I'm not responsible for any damage to the instrument or to you.