Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Help with ivory keys

Hi Forum,

I'm not a tech, and should be considered to have a merely dangerous level of sophistication about piano technology. I have a nicely restored 1968 Baldwin F with the original ivory keys. I am sure that the restoration shop tried hard to keep the original ivory keys, but they are bugging me.

The key tops are all unique...that is part of the charm of ivory I guess...but unique in the extend to their discoloration, unique in the degree of unevenness between the two top pieces on each white note, unique in that some have small cracks developing on the front lip of the key, etc. I am having trouble finding a comfort level with the old ivory keys...keep catching my fingers on the lips of the white keys, which seem more pronounced than on any piano I've played.

I also note that some of the wood keys below the white ivory layer are cracked. Don't believe it effects action quality, just another thing to worry about as the piano ages.

So, query, is it practical to replace an entire set of keys with non-ivory but first class keys? What would that cost? I assume the existing ivory keys have substantial value to somebody, but don't know that my tech necessarily would want or need them? Is there a moderately affordable path forward here, other than just learning to love my quirky and unique ivory keys?

Thanks for your thoughts. TGG

Yes ivory has many unique qualities; some of them people find un-pleasant.

Removal and replacement? This is something best discussed with your technician. Two things to discuss. Key top replacements and key lever replacement or repair.

A 1968 American piano with ivory keytops??? I'm confused!

Both Steinway and Baldwin had a stockpile of ivory so it was actually possible to get a grand with ivory up till the late fifties or maybe sixties though 1968 is pushing it. I have a 1957 Baldwin SD6 but it had factory plastic.

There are ways to rehabilitate ivory key tops. One technique I've seen is to sand with a fine grit, then coat with peroxide and let stand in the sun for a time. Then do any polishing from there. I've seen that help quite a bit. But as Dan said, consult your tech to see if it's practical in your case, or if plastic replacements would be better.

Hollywood stars spend lots of money on their teeth. When they smile, everything is white and even and shiny for a reason - this is part of their image.
I like to think of piano keys in much the same way.
The ivory is just a sentemental thing that has little if any meaning except to the person that wants it.
I spent many hours rehabing a set on an old Kanbe I restored. They are on very well but I will be replacing them with plastic - the color variation is just not acceptable.

For me,the existing ivory keys have to be near perfect for me to justify keeping them.
A bad condition set of ivories as in concave in the middle octaves,hairline cracks,chips,discolored etc. take away from a fresh remanufacture /restoration.
If there are 4 or 5 that are missing or damaged and the remainder are pristine,of course you can replace them. But if you have 15-20+ damaged or missing Forget it?
The German one piece plastic tops are excellent. Look great! Feel great!.

Having done the peroxide /sunlight treatment 50 times over,one has to be very careful in that the peroxide/bleach will break down the glue or make some ivories curl. Than one must wetsand and buff to close and seal the pores. Dangerous on a buffing wheel.

We've done only a few new legal ivory replacement in that it is too costly for most but some evidently will pay the price.

Replacing the keytops is one thing but we actually remanufacture those century old keysets whereas the sides,keybuttons,balance rail holes etc. are in ruff shape. A new keyset is the inevitable for those extra ruff condition keys on that high performance piano.

I have the original ivories on a 1928 Sohmer rebuild. FWIW, I love all the quirks! My tech evened out the level of the keys during a regulation. But of course the colors are uneven, the surfaces are dissimilar, and there are chips on the lips of many keys. That said, I wouldn't change a thing. I use one of the Cory products (Key-Brite?) to keep the keys clean. And this may sound bizarre, but I keep my fingernails as short as possible to prevent my fingers from getting tripped up on any chips or uneven surfaces. It works for me.

I appreciate everybody's comments. I'll talk to my tech next time he's tuning it, see if he's got a recommendation. TGG

The keytops of the 1928 Knabe I just bought are in extremely good shape with only one tiny chip and one hairline crack less than an eighth inch long. I plan on only repairing these two minor issues with a keytop repair kit that can be bought through PianoTek, I believe it is. We had a technical demo of the stuff at our PTG chapter a couple of months ago, and the repairs were nearly invisible. I'll then buff them to get their sheen back. The question is, what is the material used?

The keytops have both head and tail pieces. But the seems are nearly impossible to see. They don't appear to be ivory, as there is no noticeable grain, and they are all very uniform in color and texture. I am guessing it's pyraline. The fit and finish on these keytops is superb, so I doubt they have been recovered since it was originally built.
Thank you,