Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Working with AcriliKey for key top repairs

I am mainly an electronic keyboard tech, but I service Rhodes Electric Pianos. Some of the earlier Rhodes have key tops that surround the entire key and are NLA, so I have to repair them, especially in the case of cigarette burns. I've had to do this twice in the last year with help from a local piano tech.

In the last case, I had already ground off all the melted and discolored plastic (melted down the the wood in the center). The piano tech painted on the AcriliKey, and I let it dry. Later, I ground and then sanded it down level with the rest of the key. The thing is, it looks like some color from the wood bled or floated up through the AcriliKey, so the repair doesn't look perfect.

Should you do Acrilikey in layers? Should you seal or prime exposed wood before applying it to prevent bleed-through?

I had cleaned the key with water with a little detergent and rinsed it off carefully (and let dry thoroughly) before the AcrilKey was applied.

Another problem with Acrylikey is that it is off white to better match ivory. When you put it on white plastic keys it usually doesn't look as white. One solution is to get some product from a beauty supply. Professional nail people use acrylic powders and monomer liquids and the supply stores sell a version that is more white than the ivory colored Acrylikey. It takes a little practice to get the mix right, but it works well.

In regards to the wood, I would use some white primer before doing the fill.