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Reviews For: Alberto Frattini Verticale

Category: Keys & Paddles

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Review Summary For : Alberto Frattini Verticale
Reviews: 1MSRP:
Description:
Variation of the Swedish key, polished olive wood base on stainless steel, brass with protective coating. Made in very small numbers by hand.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.i1qod.it
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
N2DE Rating: 2004-01-10
The perfect Swede made in Italy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Alberto Frattini, I1QOD, is one of the fastest CW operators on the planet. He uses mostly manual keys, and he builds them himself.

I was lucky to acquire Albertos version of the Swedish key together with his Semi-Magnetico bug. Like all of Albertos keys this one looks like an art object: a highly polished stainless steel plate holds a base made of olive wood, and the mechanics are made of polished brass that is coated with a clear varnish for corrosion protection. Even if you don’t know anything about straight keys and have never used one, you can fall in love with this beauty and may want one just for the looks of it.

The „Swedish" keys use a steel blade to hold the lever and provide the force, rather than bearings and a spring. This results in a very robust frictionless construction that allows movement only in the vertical direction. (Italians call straight keys Verticale for that reason, which is confusing for most of the rest of the world.) The original Swedish key made by Lennart Pettersson placed next to this one, however, is just no contest when it comes to looks.

As you would expect, the action of this key is smooth and effortless. The knob rides fairly high above the base, so you can’t really rest your wrist on the table - but some operators prefer that hand position. I will try to talk Alberto into designing a camelback-style lever for me that brings the knob a little further down.

This key is perfection made painstakingly by hand, and you can be sure that there are not many of them around. (after all, you almost have to twist Alberto’s arm to make one for you). If you are interested you should contact Alberto at i1qod@inwind.it - he doesn’t have a website.