Official Luthiers Forum!

A good friend who is a piano tech/tuner recently passed some old piano keys my way for possible use as nuts and saddles. Most are pretty thin (less than .040") and might work nice for some inlay too.

Most are consistently flat and ready for lamination. To me HHG seems like a fine candidate. For those of you who have used this material for this purpose what type of glue have you used, or might you recommend?

There is a special glue sold in small tubes that is used for gluing mirrors to glass windshields. If it were me, Iwould try to find some of that for the laminations. As far as inlays are concerned, CA would most likely be your best bet.

If you find that you have more than you can use, I can send you my address

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Reguards,

Ken H

Ken,
If you want piano key ivory,next time you see someone throwing out an old piano on the side of the road-pick the key covers off.That's how I got all mine.

Andrew;
The old piano Ivory will need to be laminated with itself or a hardwood to be nut & saddle size.
I use CA (super glue) but I only use it for inlays and tie block covers.

I have a client that tunes & refurbishes pianos and he has given me
100's of pieces!!
Some are very discolored from finger oils ,but the clean ones i use.
I can see the ring growth of the tusk in them!!
Just like a tree.
SHAME on those who kill Elephants just for the tusks now!!!!!
To me it's like looking at the life of a beautiful animal that probably died 100 + years ago !!!!

Mike

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Mike Collins