Painting the Black Keys?

[courtesy]

I recently bought a second hand 1930s Crane & Sons piano and although the white ivory keys are in good condition the black keys are faded (one can see, I presume, the original brown wood underneath).

Our family used to own an old Victorian piano and the black keys were always jet black - I presume they were made from a different material than the more modern piano I have now.

Anyone know how to get the black colour back? I've had various suggestions ranging from using a permanent black marker to simply buying a pot of black artist quality paint.

The ivories are a little off-white - any suggestions on how to whiten them? Somebody suggested using bicarbonate of soda but I thought that would damage them.

[Barrie Heaton]

Ebony was used and still is on quality pianos the black pot of paint is you best bet clean the keys with sugar soap first to get all the grim off but be carfull you don’t wet the ivory’s

Barrie,

[courtesy]

Thanks Barrie - I guess that's where Paul McCartney got the title of his song from...

Yes, I think my old Victorian piano must have had ebony keys whilst the 1930s one looks like they're made of wood. Funny, that they still used ivory (for a while) but stopped using Ebony. I read somewhere that (conservationists cover your ears) ivory is a better material for playing on than the whatever type of plastic they use for piano keys today.

I'll start looking for a good quality black paint.

[Barrie Heaton]

The little pots of black enamel paint that model makers use is very good

Barrie,