Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha's GHS reliability

I have decided to buy Yamaha dgx 670, but I am a bit worried about reliability. I have seen quite a few videos which showed clunky noises being made be keyboards with this (GHS) action like p45 or p125.

I understand that mileage can vary but for how long with a moderate home use can I expect this action to work without those annoying clunky noises? Are we talking about weeks, months or years? I would appreciate if someone who has P124, 45 or any other yamaha with GHS action to share their experience in that matter. I just don't want to replace my cheap little noisy casio with something that is 5 times more expensive just to be disappointed after couple of months.

I’ve had mine for a couple years w/o issue. That said, it doesn’t get more than an hour or two of play time a week. I play my acoustic piano a lot more.

Three issues, here:

(a) Reliability = does it work, over the long run?

There are a gazillion GHS actions in service, and most of them work quite well. And keep working -- it's an old, proven design. I _think_ there's a plastic hinge, and once in a while it breaks, and the key needs to be replaced.

(b) Action Noise -- if you read this forum, you'll find reports of action noise for _every brand_ of DP. This has to do with the mechanical design, and the quality of the felt used.

(c) If your Casio is one-fifth the cost of a GHS Yamaha, it's probably a spring-loaded (= "synth action") keyboard. The Yamaha GHS is a fully-weighted (= "hammer action") keyboard:

. . . _that's_ why its so much more expensive (and IMHO, worth its cost).

You can get fully-weighted actions in Casio DP's, if you want to stick with that brand. But (of course) some people complain about the noise in those, when you release a key.

By and large, if you run the DP at a realistic sound level, you won't be bothered by key-return noise. If you set the volume control low, so as not to disturb others, you might hear the key noise --

. . . but in that case, you should be using headphones.

Thank you for the replies.

i don't have a brand preference. It took me a while to decide between Casio PXS3000 and Yamaha dgx 670. I chose yamahe because it has a much more user friendly interface (prefer dedicated buttons than multi level menus requiring multiple touches to achieve something) and in general just few more features. I am quite happy with Yamaha's action and amount of noise the key bed makes when new. I just want it to stay close to that level without developing plastiky or clunking noises.
By the way I have Casio ctx 700 at the moment and lots of key are making plastic on plastic noise. I am planning to re grease it and will see what happens.

Please don't be lured in by user interfaces. The most important "interface" manifests itself in the form of 88 keys. All else is fluff ... best ignored.

My p-125 with GHS started having the kinds of problems you were referring to about 1 1/2 years after I got it. Loud clicking or scratching sounds, keys getting stuck. Otherwise, I really liked the action.
I would check if there is a Yamaha approved service center near you. You usually get a 2 year warranty. I had my keys fixed and all seems well for now.

I've had loads of DGXs without issue over many years. They do get a bit noisy after a few years but I never noticed until the wife brought it to my attention when i played fast heavy passages. You'll have loads of fun on the DGX. Good choice!
Pity about the stand; you have to pay fot it now!

I just ordered a Yamaha P121 which has the GHS action. I too was a little concerened with some reports of clunky keys (which seems common for low to mid priced actions) but was encouraged by a video that tells you how to home repair (re-lube and swap keys about) and it looked pretty easy to do.

I like the idea of fixing things myself and have replaced rubber contacts on keyboards in the past myself without any problems.

i would'n mind re-greasing once in a while, but I have spent quite a bit of time searching what grease should be used and I still have not found one. Thanks for the video

I've used grease supplied by Yamaha, part number AAX90710. Yamaha in California will give you a small vial for free if you order parts from them and ask for some grease.
If not, this grease gets expensive. The 1 pound tub costs $150. Not sure what the small AAX90710 vial would cost.

You might also try white lithium grease from Lucas Oil. I've used it to smooth out the "action" on computer keyboards. It worked well.
It's only $5 for a half-pound tube from Home Depot or Lowes. That's enough to lube your piano every year for approximately forever.

Wasn't there someone here recently who was absolutely certain that the GHS was destined to catastrophic physical failure due to the design of its hinge?

I think like most digital actions, the GHS does develop some noise after a while, mainly due to compression of the foam damping strips. It really depends on how much and how heavily you play it.

But it stays serviceable and consistent for quite a long time, there's a reason Yamaha has been using it for decades.

I have one DGX, and the action is good... not good enough for advanced repertoire, but good enough for practice baroque and classical repertoire, some Chopin nocturnes... I find it very light, but not as fast as the GH. Compared to my acoustic and to my college's steinways, it is very very light. But quite dependable and reliable. I had a p-105 for a few years and my keys were heavily used without getting clunky. I find that keyboards that travel a lot get clunky easier wereas when they stay on one place for quite sometime it doesn't get that much clunky unless you pound the keys very hard... but then again, even acoustic pianos can suffer if pounded on a daily basis.

I played the crap out of my p105. Used it as a public piano in my store for a year or so. And then subsequently sold it to a church dude .

It’s still going to this day according to him

Not the best action in terms of feel but it gets the job done.

Yamaha is top notch for longevity though .

Yes, jeffcat. His reasoning didn't convince me (or anyone else at the time from what I can remember). I don't think there's any reason to expect more problems with the GHS than any other action.

for what it worth, my P80 is 20 years old and I never had to open it. My battered P120 only required little fixing and it working like new. Yamaha's are rugged and reliable

Neither of thosepianos utilise GHS to my knowledge. . . .

Hello,
This video doesn't show full truth about clunky keys repairing. Swapping whole octaves doesn't solve the problem. The same efect will be achieved after unmounting and mounting again these octaves in the same place. Why? Because in both ways you only move a little some grease, which is necessary to play keys silent (details below).
Problem is simple and known well:
In GHS keyboard, every white key has a vertical gap (on the interior side). In this gap there enter interior vertical black rails:
http://forum.pianoworld.com//gallery/42/full/13611.jpg
These rails and vertical gaps in the keys need to be filled with silicon-based grease. That grease is necessary to avoid dry clunky sound during piano play.
When the grease flow down (after couple months of intensive piano playing), then the annoying plastic sound appears.

The missing grease need to be re-supplied. If not - black vertical rails will cover with scratches. Then another scratching sounds will appear:


The only way to repair clunky keys sounds is shown here:

I am owner of Yamaha P-95 (until 2020), and Yamaha P-125 (now) and both pianos has identical GHS keybard. In both pianos exactly the same plastic sounds have appeared.
I'am very disapointed by Yamaha, because they know the problem well, and they still make the same GHS keyboard since about ten years. Even in the lowest price level, pianos should not make noise like tinny chinese sh*tty toy. But the P-125 IS NOT in the lowest price level, like DGX series.
Here is some Yamaha DGX keyboard after 1,5 to 2 years intensive playing:


Yamaha should warn their users like this:
WARNING! This piano has GHS keyboard and it is not recommended to play on it.

Greetings from Poland.

Here is also interesting post about Yamaha GHS nose keyboard:
http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2620865/1.html

Correct. At least I know that the P80 has the GHE action. My P80 has given me some trouble with sticking keys (I gigged it hard) but it is a much more advanced action than the GHS. My P-255 has a similar but slightly smoother and lighter action called GH. No problems at all so far, maybe because I won't let anybody else carry it. Why Yamaha didn't put this action into the P-125 defeats me. Cost is not a good enough reason if you're going to lose customers over it. Maybe it's weight? So sacrifice the speakers! The Roland FP-30X and FP-60X are crucifying the P-125. Meanwhile, the P-515 is too expensive and too heavy for customers who want the best portable piano around 1100 euros or less.

My GHS (Mo 8)? 13 years now. The felt strip can be replaced with not too much effort. The best mine ever played, though was when I put in my own strips of felt - added more until it was silent. Then I pulled it out for resale and placed new yamaha branded felt in there. Then my daughter claimed it, so now I can't get rid of it. But GHS lasts forever. If I were to want to use it regularly again (unlikely), I'd put my own felt back in (top and bottom)