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secured a French language ("QWERTZboard") one of these over the weekend, which is delightful.
But fully a third of the keys across the machine have been replaced over its life, by the newness / brighter white of them. Don't know if they were the most-commonly used. And the margin release key snapped off in shipping. Which suggests to me that original owner had replaced several and had breakage issues. They seem brittle like 60+ years old plastic would be.
Were replacement keys sold as a matter of course for these back in the day?
Does anyone have a line on someone who might have a stash they sell from?
I know this is getting into "keychopper" territory and I should probably just get a parts machine and go from there. But it is fascinating to learn about how thee expensive and prized machines existed in peoples' lives once upon a time. They were certainly maintained, not replaced!
Thanks!
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sorry 35l obvs -- like this one --
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Hi Lazy Dog
It looks like the 35l has the same keys as the same keys as the Underwood 319 and 378. Those unite appear quite frequently on eBay and the like for next to nothing, so might be worth investigating. There is also an eBay seller who buys up the inventory of closed down typewriter repair shops and lists them on eBay. Although the item here is a bag of Royal key tops, it probably wouldn't hut to ask Greg if he might have something along the line of what you're looking for. All the best,
Sky
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Thanks Sky! That is super helpful. There looks to be no pivot on the key top, so I am guessing just super glue or the like to reattach whatever I find. I sure appreciate it!
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Lazy Dog,
Not sure if you still need key-tops...but if so, you might want to keep an eye on this machine on SGW :