Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum What piano has the nicest feeling keys?-closest to ivory

I kinda love the feel of ivory keys. Was wondering what pianos...)I know that Yamaha has Ivorite, and Schimmel has some mineral( that I think feels beautiful), has the closest to that feel?

Closest to ivory, I don't know. My favorite key surfaces on modern pianos are those on Grotrians and Steingraebers.

What about the edges? or corners?
My hands are ok, but smaller than is convenient, and I don't like the feeling of the edges of the keytops. Does anyone know what I'm even talking about?

There are options to have the key surfaces done in bone, to simulate ivory. I'm pretty sure Kluge can do it, and I seem to remember seeing one at the Schimmel factory (they make their own keyboards).

I had a colleague with small hands at the last university where I taught who was extremely sensitive to how the edges and corners of the keys were finished, malkin.

Honestly, the white key surfaces I find interesting for the first hours/days/weeks with a piano, but eventually I just ignore it. The shape, material, and finishing of the sharp keys and how they feel are more noticeable, but somehow less often discussed. Guess I'm just weird...

Very interesting.
Does anyone know what Steinway or Fazzioli use for their keys?

Steinway uses Kluge. Just regular plastic - nothing fancy.
Most of the high-end makers use Kluge, which is owned by Steinway now. Only a couple make their own in-house.

Wow. I didn’t know that. Never even heard of Kluge.
Thx!

+1
I have not tried the Grotrian, but the Steingraebers are best in class keys from what I have tried.

I myself also found the sharp keys' feeling (texture, width, shape, etc.) more noticeable than white keys'.

Regarding white keys, now having ivory on the B, whatever Steinway would like to call theirs on the A, and Kawai GF action's Ivory Touch, while I still prefer the ivory I do not think playing experience differs that much. Even our previous Yamaha GB1, with whatever material Yamaha used on this entry-level instrument, provides good white keys' feel.

On the other hand, I much more prefer the "true ebony" (or whatever wood was truly being used) on the B's sharp keys. I just like the wooden texture a lot. I think Yamaha's WPC does a good job emulating such tactile feedback. One thing that baffles me is that since Steinway owns Kluge, for unclear reason New York Steinway only uses this material on model D's, yet Hamburg uses on its full range.

I think Sauter makes their own keys, but I could be wrong.

I definitely do! My hands are small and I find some keytops really unpleasant. Slippery material is also a real problem for me. When I bought my first piano I did not realize the importance of that, but when I was looking for a grand it was one of my major concerns.

The one I got is an older one and the keytops are not ivory but some other bone (my tech could not say what specificly). Very smooth but not slippery, love them

There is a discrepancy between the Piano Buyer website and Kluge's own website with reference to that, Almaviva.

http://www.kluge-klaviaturen.de/en/refs-en.php

According to the reference list Bösendorfer, Steingraeber, Grotrian, Steinway, Sauter and more are all Kluge keys. However they must use variations in white coating because Steingraeber key tops where markedly different in my opinion.

Laukauf and Otto Heuss are both used by Steingraeber and Grotrian. Both use Laranim keytops, which is mineral based and looks like Ivory, has a grain like Ivory and breathes like ivory.

All keytops breath like ivory, which does not breath at all!

Seriously, different people have different ideas of how keys should feel. You just have to try them and decide for yourself. I always find that the keytops I prefer are the ones attached to the piano I prefer.

Here are links to Laukhuff, Heuss, and other parts manufacturers whose materials can be found in fine European pianos:
https://www.pianos.de/en/members/index.php?id=2

I chose Theran material for mine and I love them , they are smooth and soft yet grip very nice.

As far as I know Kluge use some kind of mineralised plastic which is the Theran Miguel has mentioned. There's a virtually identical substance used by Laukhuff, and I'm pretty certain that's the thing that Steinway calls Ivoplast. It certainly looks like plastic (but it's plastic based so it would), but I think it's designed to give a slightly better grip. I'm only repeating what some folk in the trade have told me, so rest assured I could have this completely and utterly wrong.

Fortunately I don't have that problem as my piano has real ivory key tops.

I played every Christmas for 10 years for a family friend's party on a Baldwin Acrosonic that had the sharpest edges on the plastic of the white keys. "Centered" you real quick!

I always liked ebony naturals and polished, bone-covered sharps on a small pipe organ that I played in music school. Common on fortepianos, too?