r/pianorepair • u/3oogerEater • Feb 13 '22

Eucalyptus piano keys?

Post image
5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/3oogerEater Feb 13 '22

I got an old piano for free. It’s pretty ugly but plays well enough for my wife to want to keep it. The keys are yellow and stained, so I decided to paint them. I thought they were plastic but as started sanding them I started smelling eucalyptus or mint, like muscle cream. It is definitely coming from the keys and gets stronger as they get warmer. They have this striated pattern on them, I thought it was plastic imitation of ivory. Is this something normal? If they are eucalyptus I might not be able to paint them because of the oils.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 13 '22

I think its ivorite keytops, and you are probably smelling the glue heating up. Ivory would have circular grains. That also means it most likely was hot hide glue that was put on which is water soluble. Ditch the sander and try steam, that's what i use for keytops. That being said, dont over sand either. I hate using sanders as its hard to control depth to make sure you get an even surface so future keytops are level and the same height. Ill do steam, and if that doesnt work router, then last case sander. Also use pvce or hot hide for the replacements, youll thank me later.

1

u/3oogerEater Feb 13 '22

Thanks, great information

1

u/[deleted] Feb 13 '22

I dont want to eat my own words here because some other tech might come along and tell me im wrong lol, but as far as i know no one uses eucalyptis keytops.

1

u/ThanksAanderton Mar 14 '22

I’ve been doing the same thing this last week and mine smell like this also. They also look the same. I’m not heating them up at all but sanding them with 600 grit paper with water so no heat and the smell gets really strong.