sun bleached keys

[janvds]

Hi,

We just had a late 1970's Allen 122-C come in from a nearby church that upgraded to a new organ.

The keys and stop tabs are sunbleached to a yellow-beige colour.

Has anyone on this forum removed such coloration of keys to restore the original white colour? What procedure did you use?

Thanks

JVDS

[Melos Antropon]

If I'm not mistaken, that sun-caused color change is actually a chemical change in the plastic caused from the sunlight exposure. It cannot be "fixed", I don't think.

Tony

[KC9UDX]

It sort of can, with the Retr0brite process. I've never done it and don't trust it. I've seen people have disastrous results. Mind you I've also seen some that had excellent results.

The yellowing is due to a fire retardant in the plastic, bromine, I think.

You can also paint them.

What I do though is change the setting so that the yellowing isn't noticable. Don't place the organ next to other things of white colour, and use a lighted music stand of the right hue to distract from the yellow. Unfortunately your sheet music will look different.

[Admin]

Is the yellowing uniform on all keys? If so, it may not be sun bleaching. The keys on my MOS-2 theatre organ are off white, as are the pistons, by design.

[Melos Antropon]

What I do though is change the setting so that the yellowing isn't noticable. Don't place the organ next to other things of white colour, and use a lighted music stand of the right hue to distract from the yellow. Unfortunately your sheet music will look different.

I think KC's advice is probably your best bet. Any other thing you might try, even if approached carefully, could wind up with disastrous results. The "Prime Directive" of medicine is: "First, do no harm".

Tony

[Moller Artiste]

What I do though is change the setting so that the yellowing isn't noticable. Don't place the organ next to other things of white colour, and use a lighted music stand of the right hue to distract from the yellow. Unfortunately your sheet music will look different.

This is excellent advice!

I'm using a 1960 Allen TC-6 console for my VPO. The keyboards are still in excellent condition, but have yellowed from age. When I reconditioned the console, I changed the stop tabs, pistons and console plates to black with white engraving. By removing everything white, the keyboards look great. Allen

[myorgan]

If I'm not mistaken, that sun-caused color change is actually a chemical change in the plastic caused from the sunlight exposure. It cannot be "fixed", I don't think.

Tony,

When I received my MOS-2 (Allen 505B), I noticed only certain keys were yellowed, some were yellowed and pitted (like a ring or fingernail would cause), and some where white. I obtained replacement caps (and still have a few) from an organ that had been de-commissioned. They were close enough to pass the test.

However, in my endeavors, someone suggested using whitening toothpaste on the keys. To be sure, I haven't tried it, but it may work. That said, however, if all the keys are the same color, I wouldn't worry about it.

Michael