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Can you fix chipped ivory piano keys?

Many people are not aware that chipped ivory piano keys can be repaired. There is actually a product called AcryliKey that is made specifically for this purpose. Similar in nature to dental epoxy, AcryliKey is a special powder that is mixed with Acrylic Monomer Liquid and applied to the chipped piano key.

moorepiano.com - Ivory Piano Key Repair
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Repairing chipped ivory piano keys

Cleaning ivory piano keys

Whitening yellowed ivory piano keys

Replacing ivory piano keys

Repairing Chipped Ivory Piano Keys

Moore Piano is pleased to provide ivory piano key repair services to our clients in northeastern Indiana and northwest Ohio. These services include: Many people are not aware that chipped ivory piano keys can be repaired. There is actually a product called AcryliKey that is made specifically for this purpose. Similar in nature to dental epoxy, AcryliKey is a special powder that is mixed with Acrylic Monomer Liquid and applied to the chipped piano key. You can actually buy this product and do the repairs yourself, but the process can be quite laborious. Here’s how it works: First, use a mixture of mild hand soap and warm water to clean the ivory piano key, and then remove all soapy residue with a water-dampened cloth. Using a small file, file down the chipped area of the key, making sure to get rid of any remaining dirt in the process. Take a sharp knife and cut a small channel all the way across the key front. Take a plastic cup and mix the Acrylic Polymer Powder with the Acrylic Monomer Liquid (add a little bit of the Yellow Acrylic Polymer Powder if you need to in order to match the color of your piano keys). Using a toothpick, apply the mixture to the ivory key that is in need of repair. Use the toothpick to keep the mixture in place until it begins to harden. Sand down the key after the mixture has dried, and then buff it with a buffing wheel and appropriate buffing compound until it looks just like the rest of the keys. As you can see, there are quite a few materials required for this process, which is why we recommend having a professional like Moore Piano do the repairs for you. The following “before and after” pictures are an example of an ivory piano key that we repaired. Contact us today to request a quote on our services.

Ivory piano keys before repairs

The same keys after repairs were made

Whitening Yellowed Ivory Piano Keys

In addition to repairing broken keys, we can also clean and whiten ivory keys that have yellowed. Again, this is something that you can try doing on your own first, but be very careful as using improper cleaning solutions or techniques can damage the keys. One thing you can try is moving your piano to a sunny area, as the sunlight can help bleach the keys. However sunlight can damage your piano in other ways, so this isn’t necessarily recommended. We use a special bleaching process on the keys to whiten them, as pictured below. Our whitening process uses commercial grade hydrogen peroxide and a strong UV light.

Ivory piano keys undergoing a bleaching process

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pi·​a·​nist pē-ˈa-nist ˈpē-ə-

Recent Examples on the Web

In three images that form a part of the new chapter, Cole photographs a young pianist hunched over sheets of music, in the act of writing a new composition. — M. Z. Adnan, The New Yorker, 3 Dec. 2022 The show starts with just Adele, dressed Friday in a simple if glamorous black gown, and a pianist on a small slice of stage; eventually, several scrims slide away and they’re joined by a full band with three backing vocalists. — Los Angeles Times, 19 Nov. 2022 At age nine, her father’s studies brought her to Missouri for two years, where a love of classical piano (and her mother’s dreams that her daughter would one day become a concert pianist) led to state-level competitions. — Lisa Wong Macabasco, Vogue, 18 Nov. 2022 In the film, produced by Munk Studio, a young pianist comes back home for the summer. — Marta Balaga, Variety, 17 Nov. 2022 One important thing for me besides the overall musical interpretation is the kind of tone a pianist makes. — Eugenia Cheng, WSJ, 10 Nov. 2022 The creative bent comes from his mother, a blond-bobbed concert pianist who exists in state somewhere between daffy flightiness and undeniable frustration. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Nov. 2022 His mother was a gregarious concert pianist and painter who later owned a kosher restaurant on Pico Boulevard in West L.A. called The Milky Way. — Rebecca Keegan, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Nov. 2022 Its protagonist, Roland Baines, is an unfulfilled but not unhappy man who once seemed destined to become a concert pianist but ends up playing standards at a London cocktail lounge. — Giles Harvey, The New York Review of Books, 19 Oct. 2022

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