rubber buttons

[harvey]

Yes Ed, a couple of extra ideas to what JimRPT said:

- Imported rubber buttons seem different than domestic. I don't remember
what Sam's look like, but Yami's, Kiwi's and Chang's (all of which _are_
available) have the appearance of plastic or neoprene more than rubber...
more 'slick' in texture and appearance. And, they usually come in your
choice of flavors. Does that give you any ideas?

- I've successfully performed surgery on various buttons (both the mushroom
and nail-head types) in height and width to make them fit the situation. On
both the types, you have a little room to make a circular, razor blade
incision at the bottom surface of the button, while still maintaining
cosmetics and integrity -- if such a thing applies to rubber buttons! If
that's not enough room, you'll have to remove part of the 'dome'... give it
a crew-cut, IOW;

- On a similar note, but more difficult, it's possible to remove the nail
from those types and shape it to make it work in more exotic applications;

- It sometimes works to substitute a nail type in lieu of the mushroom
type, especially on cheekblocks and/or anything with room at the "bottom"
(precludes music racks, keyslips, etc.)

Now that you know the "escapement" tendencies of these buttons, might as
well order up some CA while you're at it to keep the lil' fellas in there.


At 05:45 PM 10/9/99 -0700, you wrote:
>AAARRRGGGHHHH!  I removed the cheek blocks from a fairly NEW Samick grand
>piano, prepatory to working on the action.  I carefully laid the cheek
>block on the floor by the right leg, and the rubber button that protects
>the finish from the fall board promptly fell out of the cheek block and
>rolled two feet over to the heating vent, into which it disappeared forever. 


Jim Harvey, RPT
Greenwood, SC
harvey@greenwood.net
________________________
 -- someone who's been in the field too long.