I pretty much concur with Ron. Maple--or birch or beech or whatever the local substitute is--for the buttons. Poplar--or, again, whatever the local substitute is--for the shoe. It's on the top of the lever where tensile strength is important. For the same reason I don't like using thinned hide glue to size the balance pin hole--it makes the thing too hard and if there is any gap they click. Maple is too hard for the shoe. If ever there is a slight gap they click. The shoe material doesn't really have to be all that hard to hold up well; remember there are millions of spruce, pine, bass or whatever keys out there that have worked pretty well for a really long time. And, of course, a few that didn't. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone 360.515.0119 Cell 360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com ddfandrich at gmail.com -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of David Love Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 6:53 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] buttons and shoes - was pulley key... Thanks for changing the subject line. And what's your reasoning for not wanting maple on the shoe? David Love www.davidlovepianos.com -----Original Message----- From: Ron Nossaman [mailto:rnossaman at cox.net] Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 5:23 AM To: davidlovepianos at comcast.net; pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] buttons and shoes - was pulley key... On 9/26/2012 11:49 PM, David Love wrote: > On a related matter, what's your opinion about the type of wood that > should be used for key shoes and buttons. How hard is too hard, how > soft is too soft? Del's may differ, but my preference is maple or poplar for buttons, and poplar for shoes. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC