About SticKeys
Your Keys. Your Style. Made to Fit.
SticKeys started with a simple idea: why should your piano or keyboard have to look like everyone else’s?
We create precision-cut, custom vinyl overlays designed specifically for piano and keyboard keys. Whether you're looking for something colorful, artistic, minimal, atmospheric, completely custom, or just something that makes your instrument feel more like yours, SticKeys gives you a way to transform the look of your keys without permanently altering them.
SticKeys aren't made from ordinary sticker material. We use professional-grade Avery Dennison wrap vinyl. It's the same type of high-performance vinyl technology trusted throughout the professional graphics and vehicle-wrap industry.
That distinction matters.
Professional Wrap Vinyl — Not Your Average Sticker
One of the biggest differences between SticKeys and a traditional sticker is the material itself.
Professional wrap films are engineered to conform smoothly to surfaces while maintaining durability and removability. Avery Dennison's wrap-film technology is designed around properties such as repositionability, conformability, durability and long-term removability.
Avery Dennison describes its Supreme Wrapping Film as offering “excellent long-term clean removability,” and its Easy Apply™ RS adhesive technology is designed to allow the material to be repositioned during installation while still providing reliable adhesion once installed.
For SticKeys, that means you get a thin, smooth vinyl surface designed to feel natural beneath your fingers while giving your keyboard an entirely different appearance.
Our printed designs are also laminated, adding another protective layer over the artwork and helping the design withstand regular playing, handling and everyday wear.
Why We Ask You to Measure Your Keys
If every piano key were exactly the same size, ordering SticKeys would be incredibly simple. Unfortunately, they're not.
There are thousands of pianos, keyboards, synthesizers, MIDI controllers and digital pianos in circulation, spanning decades of manufacturing and countless brands and models.
You'll find instruments with 25, 32, 34, 37, 41, 49, 61, 73, 76, and 88 keys. You'll also find different key dimensions, keyboard layouts and construction styles.
Even two keyboards with the same number of keys shouldn't automatically be assumed to have identical dimensions. It would be virtually impossible for us to physically obtain and measure every instrument ever manufactured.
That's why we ask you.
Before your SticKeys are produced, we ask for accurate measurements of your actual keys. We also request your exact keyboard model, key count and reference photos. Your measurements allow us to size the design specifically for the keys you're going to install it on instead of relying entirely on a generic keyboard-size template.
Because your SticKeys are produced using the measurements you provide, we strongly recommend measuring carefully with a ruler or tape measure and not rounding measurements up or down. A difference that seems insignificant on one key can become much more noticeable when repeated across an entire keyboard.
We also review the information submitted with orders and may contact you if something doesn't look right. We would much rather ask another question before production than knowingly send you something we believe may not fit correctly.
But They're Adhesive — What Happens When I Remove Them?
This is probably one of the most important questions we get and it's exactly why the material we use matters.
SticKeys aren't made using the type of inexpensive permanent adhesive you might associate with a paper sticker. Avery Dennison manufactures professional pressure-sensitive films specifically engineered with removal characteristics in mind.
Avery Dennison defines removability as the ability of a pressure-sensitive film to be removed in large pieces while leaving little or no adhesive on the substrate. The company also produces wrap films specifically described as offering long-term clean removability.
That doesn't mean every adhesive film on every surface under every possible condition can be guaranteed to leave literally zero trace. Temperature, age, surface condition, contamination, installation and the underlying material can all affect removal.
That's why SticKeys recommends a 2–3 year removal/replacement window rather than telling customers to install them indefinitely.
When installed on an appropriate, clean, smooth and stable surface and removed within our recommended timeframe, SticKeys are intended to remove cleanly without the sticky mess normally associated with ordinary stickers.
We also recommend inspecting your keys and SticKeys periodically rather than simply installing them and forgetting about them for many years.
Can SticKeys Actually Help Protect My Keys?
Yes! The vinyl creates a physical barrier between your fingers and the surface underneath it. Every time an uncovered key is played, its surface is exposed directly to fingers, skin oils, sweat, dust and repeated physical contact. With SticKeys installed, your fingers contact the laminated vinyl surface instead. Think of the vinyl as a replaceable outer layer. It isn't going to make an already damaged key new again, and we don't claim that it makes a keyboard indestructible. But during normal use, it can help isolate the covered portion of the key from direct contact, minor surface scuffing and everyday grime.
It's similar in principle to why protective films are used on other finished surfaces: the replaceable film takes the contact instead of the surface underneath it. And when you're ready for a new look, you can remove that layer and replace it with another design.
What About Real Ivory Piano Keys?
This deserves its own section because genuine ivory is very different from the modern plastic found on most keyboards.
SticKeys may be suitable for smooth, stable ivory keytops, but antique and genuine ivory should always be treated more cautiously than modern synthetic keys.
Before installation, inspect the surface carefully.
The keytop should be:
Smooth • Clean • Dry • Stable • Free of cracks, chips, flaking or loose material
If an ivory key is already cracked, lifting, deteriorating, unusually porous, heavily discolored, recently repaired or otherwise unstable, we do not recommend covering it without first consulting a qualified piano technician or conservator.
For intact, smooth ivory, a properly installed SticKey creates a barrier over the covered surface. This can reduce direct contact between the ivory and fingers, including exposure to skin oils, grime and repeated surface contact. However, because genuine ivory is a natural material and because the age and condition of antique instruments can vary enormously, SticKeys does not guarantee identical results on every ivory keyboard.
If you own an especially valuable, antique or historically significant instrument, we recommend testing a small, inconspicuous area first or seeking professional advice before applying any adhesive product. We'd rather be cautious with an irreplaceable instrument than make a promise that no adhesive-film manufacturer could reasonably make for every antique surface.
Why Avery Dennison?
Because material quality matters.
Avery Dennison is an established manufacturer of professional graphic and wrapping films used in demanding applications around the world. Their wrap-film technologies are engineered around characteristics including:
• Long-term removability
• Repositionability during application
• Conformability
• Durability
• Professional graphic performance
Avery Dennison's own technical literature explains that its Supreme Wrapping Film offers long-term clean removability during the intended life of the product. The company also notes that the exact removal characteristics depend on factors including the film, adhesive, substrate and exposure conditions.
We don't want you trusting SticKeys because we simply say, “Don't worry, it's fine.” We chose professional wrap vinyl because the manufacturer itself engineers and documents its products around performance and removability.
Every Keyboard Is Different. That's the Point.
SticKeys isn't trying to turn every piano into the same instrument.
We're doing the opposite. Your keyboard may be where you practice, where you write, where you produce, where you perform, where you decompress after a long day, or where an idea at 2:00 in the morning turns into your next song.
Your instrument is part of your creative space, and we think it should be able to look like it.That's why our catalog can include everything from original designs and custom customer concepts to real artwork, photography and AI-assisted creations.
And if you have an idea that doesn't exist yet?
We can create something specifically for you.
SticKeys combines accurate measurements, professional wrap materials and creative design to give musicians another way to make their instrument their own.
Protect your keys. Change the look. Inspire your creativity.
Make your keys yours.