Piano Guidance
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How much does a master key cost?

Typical costs of a traditional lock and key system Based on national averages, a traditional small format interchangeable core system typically costs $35 for every lock, $3 for each key and $3 for each Master key.

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Those who own large buildings know rekeying a building can be a substantial expense. Fortunately, InstaKey offers a solution to this issue and provides effective security to any property.

Typical costs of a traditional lock and key system

If a building has a total of 500 doors, owners will need locks, keys and likely Master keys, for all of them. Based on national averages, a traditional small format interchangeable core system typically costs $35 for every lock, $3 for each key and $3 for each Master key. Assuming all 500 doors have a lock, a key for each door and a total of 5 Master keys that access all doors, the total cost of ensuring security of the building if a Master key goes missing can get expensive quickly. Locks will cost around $17,500, 500 keys would cost about $15,000 and the Master keys would be around $15. These expenses could total up to $19,015! Unfortunately, this does not even include the cost of labor, and if an owner is forced to rekey again, these expenses can become even more substantial.

The InstaKey solution

With a key control system from InstaKey, if a Master key is lost or stolen, building owners will only need to pay a small fraction of the aforementioned expense. Owners only need to purchase 5 replacement Master keys at $6 each, one step change key to reset the locks at $7 and one rekey mailer package at $6. These products bring the total cost to only $43 – potentially saving the owner $18,972! With a key control system, owners can quickly and conveniently change locks, restore security to their building and redistribute new keys to those who require access to specific areas. Implementing this system will save building owners a substantial amount of money without compromising security because they can also quickly change locks without having to wait around for a locksmith.

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Why are my piano keys sinking?

When the old elbows break, they cause the key to become non-operational and they sink as though being held down by a ghostly hand. The fix for this problem is to replace all the elbows with a modern plastic elbow that is much more durable and will not become brittle.

This post was originally published on 7/6/2015. If you have a piano with sunken keys such as shown in the photo above, your piano might have a broken elbow, or many broken elbows. This is only one possibility, but it is a common problem in spinets (upright pianos with a very short back, shorter than the top of the music rack). Spinets have what are called "drop actions" which means the action sits partially below the keys rather than on top of them as in other upright pianos. A drop action allows the overall height of the piano to be less. There are many inherent problems with these types of pianos, but elbows are the only one that will be discussed in this post. In other uprights, the action sits on top of the keys. When a key is depressed, the back end of the key lifts and engages the action. In a spinet, or drop-action piano, the keys have a "drop wire" at the back of them that descends below the key. It has a plastic elbow at the bottom that produces the lifting action necessary to engage the action. The elbows were produced with a plastic that becomes very brittle over time and can be very easily broken. When the old elbows break, they cause the key to become non-operational and they sink as though being held down by a ghostly hand.

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