Pianotech

  • 1.  Yamaha WX-7 ugly pedals

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-09-2018 19:30
    Hi all,
    I serviced a 1986 Yamaha WX-7 today. A nice piano but with dark stains on the keys. A look at the forums here showed me the problem: "Ivoritis." I called Yamaha and there's no warranty recourse. They suggested sanding and buffing off the stains.

    Along the same lines (but obviously unrelated): The pedals would not take a good shine. The left two are a rose color, the right somewhere between nickel and gold. They seem to have aged beyond their years, and usually a good polishing restores the finish. However, it worked as well as my efforts with the keys.

    My question: have there been any reported issues with pedal finish? Either totally changing color, or just wearing prematurely? I doubt anyone has even used the left two pedals in the first place. Today I used Mother's Mag finish. I had lent my Blue Magic to a customer, and I can also try Flitz. I haven't found all that much difference between the various metal polishes though.
    thanks

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    Scott Cole
    Talent OR
    541-601-9033
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  • 2.  RE: Yamaha WX-7 ugly pedals

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-09-2018 22:40
    Keep in mind that the pedals will have been lacquered and in polishing, you have to get through that layer first.  So you might have to be a little bit aggressive to start with with.   You'll want to make sure that they're solid brass and not just brass-plated.   Yamaha should be able to tell you this, if you can't tell by looking.  If they're plated and badly discolored it's probably best to not mess with them, as you'll probably end up stripping off the plating by the time it starts to shine.  If they're solid brass, no worries, but you'll have to start off with something like coarse steel wool or 3M metal polishing pads and be prepared to expend a good amount of elbow grease.

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    Cecil Snyder
    Torrance CA
    310-542-7108
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  • 3.  RE: Yamaha WX-7 ugly pedals

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 05-09-2018 23:16
    You could try using some lacquer thinner or acetone to remove any coating on the pedals. That way, you won't have to expend much energy to polish the pedals or risk removing thin plating if they're steel. You can tell if they are coated if you put a little drop of solvent on the surface and see if they get sticky after being softened by the solvent. If so, you can clean the coating with a piece of fine steel wool dipped in the solvent. No need to bear down, just use enough effort to get it off. After that, you'll be able to polish very easily. If initial efforts using polish don't get any black on your polishing cloth, that's another sign they're coated.

    Paul McCloud
    San Diego


    Hi all,
    I serviced a 1986 Yamaha WX-7 today. A nice piano but with dark stains on the keys. A look at the forums here showed me the problem: "Ivoritis." I called Yamaha and there's no warranty recourse. They suggested sanding and buffing off the stains.

    Along the same lines (but obviously unrelated): The pedals would not take a good shine. The left two are a rose color, the right somewhere between nickel and gold. They seem to have aged beyond their years, and usually a good polishing restores the finish. However, it worked as well as my efforts with the keys.

    My question: have there been any reported issues with pedal finish? Either totally changing color, or just wearing prematurely? I doubt anyone has even used the left two pedals in the first place. Today I used Mother's Mag finish. I had lent my Blue Magic to a customer, and I can also try Flitz. I haven't found all that much difference between the various metal polishes though.
    thanks

    ------------------------------
    Scott Cole
    Talent OR
    541-601-9033





  • 4.  RE: Yamaha WX-7 ugly pedals

    Posted 05-10-2018 19:20
    As far as I know, the only real solution for discolored Yamaha keys is re-covering them.

    Pedals - to get a real shine on them, you will probably need to take them out of the piano, remove the lacquer as has been mentioned, then buff on a buffing wheel.  If you don't have a stationary buffer you can get a smaller buffing wheel and mount it on an angle grinder. No piano shop should be without some kind of serious polishing capability.

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    Jurgen Goering
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