Polishing Ivory Keytops

Focus On: Polishing Genuine Ivory Keytops Over decades of use, ivory key- tops begin to show their age and tend to look dingy and uninviting. A dull finish and/or a hard-to-remove layer of grime causes keys to have an unsavory look that makes a piano less appealing to play. The keytops on your piano have reached the point where more than a typical cleaning is needed to do the job right . To bring the ivory keys of your piano back to life, I would suggest treating your keys to a professional cleaning and polishing. The result will be a set of keys that look much more like they did when they were new. Your keytops will feel silky smooth, and will invite you to sit down and play. Hand Sanding Polishing Wheel The Piano Owner's Heads-Up Guide to Important Piano Maintenance The first step in returning a sheen to worn keytops is to carefully hand- sand the layer of oxidation and grime off the top of the keys using fine grades of wet/dry paper down to a extremely fine 2500 grit. Following this painstaking pro- cess, each keytop is buffed to a high sheen using a special ivory polish and a soft cotton buffing wheel at low speed. Once your keys have been pro- fessionally cleaned, you will find that keeping them looking nice will usually require just a quick swipe with a soft, lightly dampened cloth. - Jema Pianos