Painting Piano Keys

[Prospekt1118]

Has anyone painted their Piano Keys like Chris's Piano?? (Reverse Keys) If so, how did you do it? How do i do it without making a mess? Haha!

Thanks!

[Prospekt1118]

Painting

 

I meant Painting :)

[ainsley]

Omg, I really want to do that! But I don´t know how either :sick:

[watsername182]

I would love to paint my piano keys in reverse!

Fell in love with Chris's piano the first time I saw it. :D

[princesanji]

ok guys, first of all - if you are underage, you can stop reading here, i tell you, such things are a lot of work to do and young people always suck at this. also, your parents will be hell of a lot angry with you if you harm the expensive piano!!) you will have to remove the keys. i can't help you with that, sorry! but -if it's not already like this - write numbers on each of them to remember where they were! then remove the old paint. i recommend sanding it down (= using sandpaper + hand work or sandpaper-turning-thingy-machine (you know what i mean, don't you ?! haha :D) ), this will be the fastest solution. ONLY SAND THE VISIBLE SURFACE, NEVER TOUCH THE SIDES OF THE KEYS!!! well, those sides that touch each other i mean. this is VERY important to remember, otherwise you might screw your keys. they will most likely have veneers. it's enough to sand these, or even only roughen the surface. use a suitable varnish (ask your local paint store) that is black / white or black / white paint + clear varnish.

 

if you realise now, that this procedure is completely unnecessary, because you won't always like that painting and you won't be able to use you piano for weeks, then congratulation, you are smart!

if you still want it, do it yourself (and always ask experts for help, or you might screw it up!!) or ask at a piano store if they can do it (definitely better!!) or if they have/can order/can produce those keys (they are normally used for organs, so you might be lucky)

 

HOWEVER:

personal advice: don't

just simply don't do it....

[noonsun]

Why would you want to do that??

 

It's confusing, the only evidence where it's been done and worked succesfully is in Coldplay's case, as far as I know, and they are professionals with professional piano-fixer-people friends, and it's really only a gimmick anyway, as far as I can tell. :/ It's just... pointless. I mean it looks cool and so forth but it's pointless.

[Jsalyers]

Ohhh ive been wanting to do this! Im going to get a piano like Chris uses on stage and want to do that to the keys. I dont know if I would want to do it myself though:\

[watsername182]

Haha, I'm sure my mother will be extremely pissed off if I painted my piano in reverse colour.

That's if she knew anyway.

I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know which way around it's meant to be.

 

But anyway, I'd much rather spend a little (or a lot probably) more money to just get a custom coloured piano.

[Prospekt1118]

Hahaha, thats so hard. I'll pass. You think Chris did it that way?

[princesanji]

never. it must have been done by real professionals! he didn't even paint his guitars himself ;)

 

EDIT:

A new idea just popped up in my mind!

get yourself black and white PVC (which stands for polyvinyl chloride by the way) tape. easy to cut, easy to install, easy to remove! i suppose that's a good alternative! good luck everybody (i might even try that myself)

[ifeellow]

Yeah. The tape is an awesome idea. :D Although, i don't think removing em would a good idea. Sticky. :\

[Mahratta]

Don't do it. Ever.

[shutterbug]

Oh NEVER EVER consider messing with the keys. You could mess up the reaction (the hammer area) and ruin your piano in general. I'm pretty sure you can buy pianos in 'reverse color.' I also think it looks cool, here's a keyboard example, but it says it's no longer available:

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/543482-REG/Korg_MICROKORGBK_microKORG_37_Key_Synthesizer_Vocoder_Reverse_Color.html

 

Here's one I've never seen before, it has both color combinations:

http://keyboards-midi.musiciansfriend.com/product/Hammond-XK3c-Drawbar-Organ?sku=703103

 

If you're serious, I'd ask your piano tuner about it.

 

Here's a beautiful one undergoing restoration:

http://www.frederickcollection.org/Anon1790.htm

 

Wiki isn't the greatest source but they say,

"Many keyboard instruments dating from before the nineteenth century, such as harpsichords and pipe organs, have a keyboard with the colours of the keys reversed: darker coloured keys for the white notes and white keys for the black notes. A few electric and electronic instruments from the 1960s and subsequent decades have also done this"

source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_keyboard

[lafferty23]

Man I really wanna do this too! But I will restrain myself.... :(

[watsername182]

I'm pretty sure "Balwin Pianos" do custom coloured pianos.

They could probably do reverse coloured keys.

[jejon001]

i painted my piano keys reversed, worked out just fine

[moss]

thought maybe being rich they bought coloured plastic keys but it seems on this pic from radio 1 it's paint

 

[42Mooosehead]

Does anybody have photos of chris` piano?`

I mean the actual piano the had in glastonbury and on the festivals this year.

thanks!

[86Timewarp]

I get get some screen shots from videos. If your planning to do this: which I was but i have to build a bloody case first, start off with a keyboard. much easier but dont try it if you dont know what your doing.

[princesanji]

I get get some screen shots from videos. If your planning to do this: which I was but i have to build a bloody case first, start off with a keyboard. much easier but dont try it if you dont know what your doing.

 

so that means you don't do it? :P

weeeeell, actually, painting plastic is always harder than painting wood. always. the paint will wear off very soon.... seriously^^ so if you want that used & messy look, okay, if you want it to look good.... don't :D

[86Timewarp]

I really really need to build the bloody case and get a soldering iron.

[ImLost?]

I have to say having reversed keys would be slightly amazing....but certainly not worth it.

 

I would like to know exactly how Chris gets his that way, because when you calculate the amount of work it would take for something like that...why would any major artist worth his salt do that to his primary instrument? I mean those Yamaha arent cheap:\

 

Even if it is done by professional piano people, I just don't see it happening that way for Coldplay. Maybe he buys them like that...

[86Timewarp]

I have to say having reversed keys would be slightly amazing....but certainly not worth it.

 

I would like to know exactly how Chris gets his that way, because when you calculate the amount of work it would take for something like that...why would any major artist worth his salt do that to his primary instrument? I mean those Yamaha arent cheap:\

 

Even if it is done by professional piano people, I just don't see it happening that way for Coldplay. Maybe he buys them like that...

 

It's actually just that 1 piano. It's been repainted from the Viva scheme to the LP5 era. Chris paints his pianos cause he likes to be expressive AND it blends in on stage with all the lights and neon.

[ImLost?]

^Thanks. Something I didn't know.:D That's kinda cool, though.

[andreas_mac]

i did it, but my keyboard doesn't work like before. I can play only with half keyboard

This is how it looks.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6285/17965510150111875354743.jpg