I have a 90-year old Steinway M with the typical gouges in the sides under the keytops, from long wear. Not overly severe, but I'd like to address them. I am wondering about alternative techniques to do this.
I have read that some people remove wood from the whole side of the key (to make the sides flat), glue veneer on, then somehow get the key back to the original dimension. I haven't been able to wrap my mind around how to do that successfully, but maybe someone can explain.
I remember reading about the possibility of cleaning the gouge, filling with epoxy, and sanding. I was thinking of trying that, or possibly some other substance. I wondered if Wood Rebuilder (Lake One) from Allied might work for this application.
My other thought is to use a sharp chisel, remove just enough wood to make the gouge level to a depth less than or equal to a veneer strip, and glue in a strip of veneer.
With both these methods, I'd use the existing keytop as the guide for width of the key. The tops are original, and the spacing is nice and even.
Thoughts?
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Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm@unm.eduhttp://fredsturm.nethttp://www.artoftuning.com"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda
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