tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post8104887438004326114..comments2024-02-21T01:04:06.333-05:00Comments on Synth Hacker: Replacing Key Contacts on Korg Mono/PolyChiphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10352943033779293161noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-26900864593860363962021-03-17T20:43:15.469-04:002021-03-17T20:43:15.469-04:00just try carbon hb2 pencil en clean the gold conta...just try carbon hb2 pencil en clean the gold contacts witch isopropylalcoholDavid Siauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04663410250966473004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-203451753572723342020-10-30T12:05:18.307-04:002020-10-30T12:05:18.307-04:00Thank you so much for this!! I have an old MonoPol...Thank you so much for this!! I have an old MonoPoly that I've had since I was 15 years old!! Been in a box unused for over a decade - I had sold off my other gear but held on to this one. I recently got a modern weighted-key piano-action unit and started playing again (really nice), but wanted to revive this because - it's an awesome mono synth! But, nearly 1/2 of the keys do not trigger anymore. This is very likely what the doctor ordered (and now I will order!).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468726980855790653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-52124377048687707202018-11-25T19:48:46.993-05:002018-11-25T19:48:46.993-05:00To the guy claiming that it's not the rubber c...To the guy claiming that it's not the rubber contact strips, and that they just need to be cleaned, he is dead wrong. I tried cleaning my OB-8 contacts multiple times over the years. It did not help much, and eventually, I lost over two octaves of notes. Last week I ordered these replacement Key contact strips from LA Synth Co. When they arrived, I replaced them exactly as described in your tutorial, and voilla! My OB-8 works 100%! Every note, and the action is as good as the day it came from the factory! Thank you :)Steve from Buffalohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09275913938608245578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-24256871176269025352018-11-23T20:45:31.608-05:002018-11-23T20:45:31.608-05:00I have the Sounddoctorin adhesive dots. I used the...I have the Sounddoctorin adhesive dots. I used them on 3 Polysixes I was referbishing. I sold two, but the one I kept has had virtually no issues with key contacts since I put them on, back in 2010/2011! But it's good to know that replacement domes are available. One of my strips has a missing dome :( Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00928131073802375820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-29722691718201963632018-10-11T11:17:03.938-04:002018-10-11T11:17:03.938-04:00 Thanks for this great tutorial, one question, wil... Thanks for this great tutorial, one question, will this work to improve the keybed feeling of Korg Pa700 ? <br /><br /> BestAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01305941990193205818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-30224409538392058182017-02-22T11:32:52.581-05:002017-02-22T11:32:52.581-05:00Thank you a lot for sharing your knowledge! It mad...Thank you a lot for sharing your knowledge! It made me find the courage to open up my old Korg MonoPoly synth and fix by myself the 16 keys that didn't worked anymore. I just cleaned the contacts with the pencil eraser and a special "contact cleaner" from WD-40. I didn't even had to replace any rubber part or to use some caikote.<br />I would advise to use an "air duster" or "dust off", it's realy helpfull to clean the inside of any old synth.<br />Result:A lot of money saved, the proudness to fix something myself and a lot of music incoming.<br /><br />Thanks again, great job!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08978573679885638044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-62529506566425223642017-02-10T21:16:05.868-05:002017-02-10T21:16:05.868-05:00it's really fairly obvious from using a stereo...it's really fairly obvious from using a stereomicroscope what is going on - there is an atmospheric 'lacquering' going on - i guarantee you - this is the case with all such keyboards - I have a few polysixes and a mono/poly - all from totally different sources - all had the exact same laquering going on. The steel wool ( provided it's fine enough) does a great job... though other abrasives could be used. I haven't found a solvent yet that can do it chemically though. But yeah as long as you use decent magnification and care you can clean those contact problems right up.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15134876484753669009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-49253633446106790302017-02-10T20:59:28.667-05:002017-02-10T20:59:28.667-05:00Good to hear you found a fix for your synth, "...Good to hear you found a fix for your synth, "Unknown"! Absolutely, In some cases (like yours), simply cleaning the environmental tarnish from the gold contacts is sufficient. We have found in our years of experience with these matsushita-type keybeds that often this isn't enough. BUT! One must be careful cleaning those gold contacts too!<br /><br />More often than not, the rubber contacts have been destroyed by years of use or neglect, alcohol cleanings (NO!),sweat or other liquids seeping in. In addition,they usually have deformed and lost proper height as well. This is why we made the effort to reproduce these parts.<br /><br />When cleaning the gold contacts, you must watch that you do not take the very thin deposit of gold off the PCB or you will leave the contacts in a state where they can easily tarnish and increase the resistivity higher than the synth can sense. Even fine steel wool can even be too aggressive for this gold layer. how often this happens depends on usage and local environment. Re-coating the gold is far trickier than replacing the carbon contacts. We like to use alcohol and a soft cheesecloth or a drafting eraser to clean the gold. <br /><br />Perhaps we will hear from you if your contacts ever wear out. Maybe not! :) Thanks!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06449179817880428362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-37926346738155303412016-12-22T03:22:12.421-05:002016-12-22T03:22:12.421-05:00Thanks for your great blog - but i just wanted to ...Thanks for your great blog - but i just wanted to add that I've found an even simpler route to restoring keyboard response. Having looked at the 'gold' contacts through a proper stereomicroscope - i discovered that, for whatever reason - there is a shellac like deposit left on the gold pads that seems to be responsible for the loss of contact. It's NOT THE PADS! i found that by carefully scraping away the shellac deposit (neither alcohol nor acetone will do it) with a tiny piece of 000 steel wood on the end of a pair of tweezers - i was able to restore full action in two of my polysixes AND my mono-poly. it's been about three months and no problems or issues yet. Sorry LA Synth Co. - maybe you'll get my business later.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15134876484753669009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-71171239568212231712016-12-20T09:32:09.732-05:002016-12-20T09:32:09.732-05:00Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to p...Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to put up this information. i had tried all the different options for getting my MP keys to fire. some worked better than others but none of them ever got the keys to %100.<br />LA SynthCo has saved the day with these contact strip remakes. I just finished installing them and all keys are firing and feel great! just when i was beginning to lose hope you guys saved the day! OM3Nhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11171475030017412249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-88268472247793808102016-12-02T13:59:07.035-05:002016-12-02T13:59:07.035-05:00THANK YOU for the write up, and your in-depth Korg...THANK YOU for the write up, and your in-depth Korg circuit analysis! :D<br /><br />After analyzing the action of the key contacts for a while, it came to my attention that besides the years of contacts being destroyed people being misinformed to use alcohol on their rubber contacts (NO NO NO NO! BAD!), the domes and contacts would slightly deform on their own. This combined with crud build up or the carbon becoming too thin, left a lot of non-functioning keys. When you install our new contacts, you will notice the keys are faster and more "strident" feeling. Its quite amazing how much of a difference you feel with these taller (correct height) domes.<br /><br />To be honest, I remade these contacts to speed up the process and give reliable results, plain and simple. The paint is a major pain and if you get it wrong, you have to take it all apart and do it again, wait for it to dry, etc. then try again. This gave me a hard time in the shop as it would add dry time, leaving me with synths splayed open in my very busy shop taking up room. In addition, sometimes they'd come right back a few weeks later. That's not how I do business, I like to make sure we fix things right the first time.<br /><br />I'm glad you like them and they worked out. Making these up was neither cheap nor easy, and its great to see the work in use!<br /><br />I also want to add that the Sounddoctorin' adhesive dots work great as well, and are super versatile. There are many switches (IE rubber domes in Juno-60 switches) and contacts that cannot be replaced, but can be repaired with them. They're an excellent multi-use tool for any tech and great for situations where there are no other parts available . Just like anything you must follow the instructions and apply them correctly. I've had 0 failures with them. Every tech should have some.<br /><br /><br /> <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06449179817880428362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-8730434846630655702016-11-30T18:09:49.772-05:002016-11-30T18:09:49.772-05:00Hi,
Great to see how many different things one can...Hi,<br />Great to see how many different things one can still do with an old analog synth.<br />I want to go one step further still, and clone my own Mono-Poly. But I got no good photo of the KLM-354 VCO board without the second PCB and all the cables in the way. <br />I was wondering if you could maybe please post a few good pics of the KLM-354 without the 2nd PCB and with the cables at different positions? This way I could stitch me a good overall PCB layout pic together. <br />In return I would for sure share the clean redrawn schema and PCB with you. <br />Cheers,<br />t8lulet8lulehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681622807816439504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-31590313921323027062016-08-24T05:54:39.300-04:002016-08-24T05:54:39.300-04:00If you use the paints they're known to be iffy...If you use the paints they're known to be iffy over time which is why I developed the contact disks WHICH (like anything else) if applied as per instructions have worked wonderfully for 100's of keyboards. I'm 'sounddoctorin' on youtube Jonathan. If you put kaicote or anything else paint wise on there you've got a mess if it doesn't work right. If you get a disks that doesn't work you just peel it off and put on another. They can get bent sometimes and not contact quite right but it's rare if you are handling them carefully on the install. Also you have to make sure there is enough contact . The panasonic movements are often ALL OVER THE PLACE in tolerance. Some contacts barely touch.<br /><br />Now who is this syntegrator guy and why didn't he contact me?sounddoctorinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15297605810102643432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-10699348780081597362016-06-28T11:19:54.185-04:002016-06-28T11:19:54.185-04:00hmmm interesting... i saw the youtube video by syn...hmmm interesting... i saw the youtube video by syntegrator on replacing the contacts and it seemed that HIS source (synthdoctorin') was providing less than functional contact points. I have a mono poly and a few polysixes to do - I bought some KaiCote 44 - but now I am wondering if that is the way to go. I did some initial trials with something called 'keypad fix' which i modified with gum arabic in a few trials (straight and mixed) - worked great at first but stopped working after a few days. I don't want to have to be taking these keybeds apart perpetually - and I'm actually wondering if it has to do with the rubber (silicone?) fatiguing and not conveying pressure to the contacts as well as it used to ... <br /><br />also wanted to say THANK YOU (!!) for your stunningly informative site - i've read over many of the pages and it has me full of optimistic ideas for my synths... great to see someone else's trials - very encouraging. (bows to you, sir) - JonathanUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15134876484753669009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1249615655314260587.post-60830992024837712692016-03-01T07:39:52.695-05:002016-03-01T07:39:52.695-05:00Now that it's once again playable, any mod pla...Now that it's once again playable, any mod plans for this beast of a synth?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09019499460028607916noreply@blogger.com