>The balance rail holes are ugly. Lots of missing wood. Some keys are really >loose. > >I heard also of making a kerf cut and installing piece of veneer. Front >and back? I think I could make a cut with my drywall knife that would be >wide enough for the veneer edging I have. Would I then just size the hole >or drill it out? Greetings, The holes are usually worn from the proximal side,(that is the result of fingers forcing the keys back into the action). If this is the case, a saw kerf across the hole on the keyboard (front) side of the hole will usually allow the key to be accurately relocated. It takes very little depth to effect a good repair, perhaps no more than 1/8". Cut so that the veneer will fill about 1/3 of the hole's diameter and glue in a small strip of thick veneer, keeping the glue away from the hole itself. When dry, trim the sides and bottom and then carefully use a small rat-tail file to make the hole round again. You may need to do this front and back, but that is rare. Once you get going, each key will take about 1 minute to cut and glue, another 20 seconds to file. You don't want the veneer so far into the hole that you cut it in half with the file trying to make a round hole out of it. Sometimes, if there is really a lot of wood missing, a popsickle stick can be used, but that requires a pretty wide kerf,(which can be made by taping two hacksaw blades together). Good luck, Ed Foote RPT
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