Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
Is any one familiar on how to adjust the individual key volumes to even them out? I just pulled my Yamaha S80 out of storage to use as a rehearsal/studio/gig instrument. While it is quite playable, a few keys are either softer or louder than the rest. I assume there must be a way to adjust this - either mechanically or electronically. Downloaded the service and user manuals but found nothing yet that addresses this directly.
And/or does anyone know or recommend anyone in the Denver area that does DP maintenance/repair? Thanks for any suggestions.
Assuming no keys are sticking, strip it down, and use isopropyl alcohol 100% to clean all the contacts, those on the board and inside the rubbery caps themselves.
Aggressively cleaning the inside of the conductive rubber caps might rub off all the conductive coating in there, if it's deteriorating already. There are then some ways to fix that if it happens.
I agree. Aggressive cleaning might do more harm than good. Usually the problem is either: (a) Minor dirt or dust under the rubber dome or on the circuit board beneath it. Wipe the board clean and dust-blow the rubber domes. (b) Worn/defective rubber contacts. I had to replace one a couple of years ago. I actually replaced four of them for good measure, covering the center four octaves of the piano. Yamaha/California sells the parts. That job was around $75.
Aggressively cleaning the inside of the conductive rubber caps might rub off all the conductive coating in there, if it's deteriorating already. There are then some ways to fix that if it happens.
What are the "some ways to fix" the rubber caps (if that is the problem) other than replacement. The keyboard has not had heavy use, rather a long time in storage. I'm sure the first step is to expose the keyboard/action and probably to clean it (not too aggressively).
Some sort of conductive paint may work if it sticks to the rubber and rubbing graphite from a pencil might have a temporary effect, but there are also small conductive pads that you can glue on:
This just happened to be a nice video showing them, but they might sold here, there and everywhere, so look around for a suitable size, amount and price:
