Anything wrong with finishing keysticks?

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Gordon,

Sealing keysticks used to be part of the process known as 
"tropicalizing"...I have seen it on any number of older instruments - 
so, carefully done, what problems can it cause?

Best.

Horace


At 03:45 PM 2/27/2006, you wrote:
>      A few years ago I got a  bunch of folks upset
>here by saying I was going to lacquer the keysticks on
>a piano I was doing for a church. Besides sealing in
>residual odors, I saw this as a way to keep slime,
>from dirty fingers, from soaking into the wood on the
>white key sides. It worked beautifully ( wipes right
>off ) so now I am thinking of doing it again, but this
>time on a Steinway grand that was in a  hippie commune
>and really, really stinks. ( Cigarettes and pets,
>mostly. ) I'll do everything I can to get rid of the
>odor such as sanding the wood, ozonating them in a
>sealed box, etc., but I suspect they'll still be
>stinky, so I want to lacquer them. Does anyone here
>have a good mechanical reason why I oughtn't.
>     Thanks!
>      G
>
>P.S. It's also a  nice way to seal the leads, so they
>oxidize less and are inhaled as dust, less.
>
>
>
>
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