Pianotech

We did this experiment in my shop a couple years ago. The consensus was that Bondo was the best of the fillers. BUT......in the end the filler method is slow, laborious, and messy and was not worth pursuing. We instead chose ol' wooden sugar pine dowels ( i make my own dowels). Why Sugar Pine you may ask? Besides being sweet smellin', it's the most stable of all the pines.

10-10

-chris

I too would simply plug it with wood. I have poplar plugs (which are also pretty stable

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

We did this experiment in my shop a couple years ago. The consensus was that Bondo was the best of the fillers. BUT......in the end the filler method is slow, laborious, and messy and was not worth pursuing. We instead chose ol' wooden sugar pine dowels ( i make my own dowels). Why Sugar Pine you may ask? Besides being sweet smellin', it's the most stable of all the pines.

10-10

-chris

Peter and Chris,

Attached is a photo of a situation for which I'm considering a filler instead of a simple plug. The two holes had been drilled too close together, and when someone decided to punch out the leads, they damaged the wall between them. By the way, I do have Pianotek's poplar plugs, and I have the capacity to cut my own.

I too would simply plug it with wood. I have poplar plugs (which are also pretty stable

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

We did this experiment in my shop a couple years ago. The consensus was that Bondo was the best of the fillers. BUT......in the end the filler method is slow, laborious, and messy and was not worth pursuing. We instead chose ol' wooden sugar pine dowels ( i make my own dowels). Why Sugar Pine you may ask? Besides being sweet smellin', it's the most stable of all the pines.

10-10

-chris

Peter and Chris,

Attached is a photo of a situation for which I'm considering a filler instead of a simple plug. The two holes had been drilled too close together, and when someone decided to punch out the leads, they damaged the wall between them. By the way, I do have Pianotek's poplar plugs, and I have the capacity to cut my own.

I too would simply plug it with wood. I have poplar plugs (which are also pretty stable

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

Peter and Chris,

Attached is a photo of a situation for which I'm considering a filler instead of a simple plug. The two holes had been drilled too close together, and when someone decided to punch out the leads, they damaged the wall between them. By the way, I do have Pianotek's poplar plugs, and I have the capacity to cut my own.

I too would simply plug it with wood. I have poplar plugs (which are also pretty stable

Peter Grey Piano Doctor 

We did this experiment in my shop a couple years ago. The consensus was that Bondo was the best of the fillers. BUT......in the end the filler method is slow, laborious, and messy and was not worth pursuing. We instead chose ol' wooden sugar pine dowels ( i make my own dowels). Why Sugar Pine you may ask? Besides being sweet smellin', it's the most stable of all the pines.

10-10

-chris

Hi Scott,

Since our shop makes keysets, we see lots of attempts at plugging lead holes. In my opinion there's nothing as well matched to keys as a similar or the same wood species plug with grain orientation to match. The same species is best, but spruce and pine are pretty much interchangeable.

During re-leading, you'll sometimes be drilling part of the plug and real wood will end up a much better job.  It looks better and it doesn't degrade the key's strength and stiffness. And frankly, it's a faster job.

What doesn't work well is maple or birch plugs made from hardware store dowels. The grain is going the wrong way which means they will eventually separate from the keystick and maybe click or certainly cause weakness in the keystick.

Well matched plugs are also very fast to install.  For making plugs, I have a shophand spend a half a day making them in bulk. We make plugs in every size and from many different species to match keyframes and keys.

We make our own key plugs from kiln-dried spruce, from scraps of keyblanks of course.  But we have way more spruce key scrap than we can use. If anyone out there will pay for shipping, I'd be happy to send any PTG member a small box of kiln-dried clear keyset quality spurce for plugs. Plug cutters are readily available and easy to use on a drill press.

Hope that's helpful,

-Dean

Hi Scott,

Since our shop makes keysets, we see lots of attempts at plugging lead holes. In my opinion there's nothing as well matched to keys as a similar or the same wood species plug with grain orientation to match. The same species is best, but spruce and pine are pretty much interchangeable.

During re-leading, you'll sometimes be drilling part of the plug and real wood will end up a much better job.  It looks better and it doesn't degrade the key's strength and stiffness. And frankly, it's a faster job.

What doesn't work well is maple or birch plugs made from hardware store dowels. The grain is going the wrong way which means they will eventually separate from the keystick and maybe click or certainly cause weakness in the keystick.

Well matched plugs are also very fast to install.  For making plugs, I have a shophand spend a half a day making them in bulk. We make plugs in every size and from many different species to match keyframes and keys.

We make our own key plugs from kiln-dried spruce, from scraps of keyblanks of course.  But we have way more spruce key scrap than we can use. If anyone out there will pay for shipping, I'd be happy to send any PTG member a small box of kiln-dried clear keyset quality spurce for plugs. Plug cutters are readily available and easy to use on a drill press.

Hope that's helpful,

-Dean

Hi Scott,

Since our shop makes keysets, we see lots of attempts at plugging lead holes. In my opinion there's nothing as well matched to keys as a similar or the same wood species plug with grain orientation to match. The same species is best, but spruce and pine are pretty much interchangeable.

During re-leading, you'll sometimes be drilling part of the plug and real wood will end up a much better job.  It looks better and it doesn't degrade the key's strength and stiffness. And frankly, it's a faster job.

What doesn't work well is maple or birch plugs made from hardware store dowels. The grain is going the wrong way which means they will eventually separate from the keystick and maybe click or certainly cause weakness in the keystick.

Well matched plugs are also very fast to install.  For making plugs, I have a shophand spend a half a day making them in bulk. We make plugs in every size and from many different species to match keyframes and keys.

We make our own key plugs from kiln-dried spruce, from scraps of keyblanks of course.  But we have way more spruce key scrap than we can use. If anyone out there will pay for shipping, I'd be happy to send any PTG member a small box of kiln-dried clear keyset quality spurce for plugs. Plug cutters are readily available and easy to use on a drill press.

Hope that's helpful,

-Dean

I understand the preference for wood plugs, but how do you handle oval holes (from swaged/swedged key leads), or holes that have damaged the walls from the lead removal (see my posted photos above)? So for example, if the hole is 1/2" but elongated, would you drill a new, oversized hole and insert a correspondingly larger plug?

Hi Scott,

Since our shop makes keysets, we see lots of attempts at plugging lead holes. In my opinion there's nothing as well matched to keys as a similar or the same wood species plug with grain orientation to match. The same species is best, but spruce and pine are pretty much interchangeable.

During re-leading, you'll sometimes be drilling part of the plug and real wood will end up a much better job.  It looks better and it doesn't degrade the key's strength and stiffness. And frankly, it's a faster job.

What doesn't work well is maple or birch plugs made from hardware store dowels. The grain is going the wrong way which means they will eventually separate from the keystick and maybe click or certainly cause weakness in the keystick.

Well matched plugs are also very fast to install.  For making plugs, I have a shophand spend a half a day making them in bulk. We make plugs in every size and from many different species to match keyframes and keys.

We make our own key plugs from kiln-dried spruce, from scraps of keyblanks of course.  But we have way more spruce key scrap than we can use. If anyone out there will pay for shipping, I'd be happy to send any PTG member a small box of kiln-dried clear keyset quality spurce for plugs. Plug cutters are readily available and easy to use on a drill press.

Hope that's helpful,

-Dean

I understand the preference for wood plugs, but how do you handle oval holes (from swaged/swedged key leads), or holes that have damaged the walls from the lead removal (see my posted photos above)? So for example, if the hole is 1/2" but elongated, would you drill a new, oversized hole and insert a correspondingly larger plug?

Hi Scott,

Since our shop makes keysets, we see lots of attempts at plugging lead holes. In my opinion there's nothing as well matched to keys as a similar or the same wood species plug with grain orientation to match. The same species is best, but spruce and pine are pretty much interchangeable.

During re-leading, you'll sometimes be drilling part of the plug and real wood will end up a much better job.  It looks better and it doesn't degrade the key's strength and stiffness. And frankly, it's a faster job.

What doesn't work well is maple or birch plugs made from hardware store dowels. The grain is going the wrong way which means they will eventually separate from the keystick and maybe click or certainly cause weakness in the keystick.

Well matched plugs are also very fast to install.  For making plugs, I have a shophand spend a half a day making them in bulk. We make plugs in every size and from many different species to match keyframes and keys.

We make our own key plugs from kiln-dried spruce, from scraps of keyblanks of course.  But we have way more spruce key scrap than we can use. If anyone out there will pay for shipping, I'd be happy to send any PTG member a small box of kiln-dried clear keyset quality spurce for plugs. Plug cutters are readily available and easy to use on a drill press.

Hope that's helpful,

-Dean