Spider76

Wow, this looks absolutely great! I honestly think you did even better than me, probably because you spent more time on it... as I told, it's not really a matter of skill but of patience! And now enjoy your new-look SK2... I'm quite proud to have inspired you, and that the pupil has surpassed the master! http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/10377868.jpg

btw, I just realized that now I have a sort of SK2-Mojo hybrid... http://www.crumar.it/products/4/pics/main.jpg

I don't have an answer for these concerns (yet), will need to wait and see how it goes with time and gigging life wear & tear! But as far as I can tell: a) sure the vinyl film is soft and will get scratched easily. But not so much easier than the original lacquer paint, which looked rather delicate. I'm pretty obsessive about handling and caring for my instruments, so I'll just give it the same attention as before - always in a bag or under a cover, no hits, no scratches, no drinks or dancing people nearby, etc. Even in the worst case scenario of a bad bump or scratch, the film will actually provide some protection to the original paint underneath. b) the end caps are easily unscrewed and reassembled in half an hour, no hassle at all. And dc-fix comes off quick and easy, leaving no traces of glue. At least now that it's new, I don't know if after months/years it will be harder to remove or leave sticky traces, but I doubt it. Anyway the glue is easily removed with a bit of alcohol - I tried it beforehand on some small pieces of leftover film. Of course every time you modify something there's the risk of some unpleasant surprise, but I'm quite confident there won't be any. Finger cross!

I don't think anything is better than real wood but yeah, the cost-effort-result ratio is definitely great. It wasn't very difficult, and note that I'm not a very skilled DIY guy. More than skill, it needs patience. Going very slowly and carefully, and not being frustrated at repositioning the same piece of film multiple times until the result is satisfactory. It took me about 2 hours to do each end cap, 5 hours total with all the measuring, drawing, disassembling and reassembling. But Dc-fix is a great help in this. It is very easy to apply and very forgiving of mistakes, you can detach and reattach it multiple times, it's very flexible and adaptable. Straight corners are not really an issue, the film folds neatly around. The real trouble are curved surfaces, you need to take special care for those. A blowdryer can help, as the vynil film becomes softer and more extensible when heated, and adapts even better to the surface. It's relatively easy to avoid bubbles (start from a side and proceed always in one direction) but some will be inevitable, I have a trick for this: just pierce them with a needle, the air will go out, you can flatten them cleanly, and the tiny hole will be invisible to anything but a microscope inspection. Some very useful tips & tricks I made good use of: http://www.vinyldepot.co.uk/content/2-faq If you really want to do it I can send you some pics of the intermediate stages of the process, especially the shape of the film cutouts and the way I folded it. Thanks for the appreciation guys, didn't expect it!

Thanks for the compliments, too kind! The last photo is the more true-to-life, the others have a slight reddish tinge (indoor lights, and I didn't bother to do color-correction). The film is supposed to mimic medium-dark oak. Yeah I'm pretty satisfied with the result, given how little money and effort it took. Beware, it's far from perfect: if you look close enough you can see the junctions of the wrapping film and a few wrinkles and imperfections here and there. But from a couple of meters away it's really hard to tell, and it looks great anyway! You may well give it a try, dc-fix has a pretty extensive catalogue of wood-mimicking films, they even reproduce the wood texture and surface. It's great because it's really inexpensive, easy to apply and remove, and reversible: if you don't like the result, or grow tired of it and want to go back to the original color, it takes a minute, you just rip it off and it's done.

ok, here you go: after an evening of cut&paste and at the grand expense of 5.80 in dc-fix, I introduce you to my (fake) wooden SK2!

In the meantime, I did the mod to my SK2 and confirm, the sides are easily and safely removed and reassembled, they are not linked to any sensitive component and there's no risk of damaging anything. I'm trying to post pics but it doesn't seem to work, I've tried linking them from facebook and dropbox, but it doesn't visualize the image... any hint what I'm doing wrong?

ditto, just found this... somehow I'd missed it in my previous searches! looks great and not that difficult, we'll see! and btw, BBblues' avatar is not a SK2 at all! https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2617911#Post2617911 The answers are all already out there... mommy always told me to be more patient and to search well, before asking stupid questions!

thanks for the info guys! I won't go so far as to purchase (or build) entirely new wooden pieces, I was thinking of a much easier and quicker solution, using dc-fix or similar films to coat the existing panels. But to do a decent job, I'd need to disassemble the sides. On the web I saw many tutorials about substituting the Nord red panels, but I don't recall seeing anything similar for the SKs...anybody tried to do it? If it's just a matter of removing a few screws I'll do it, but I don't want to take ANY chance - if the panels have a structural function (i.e taking them out will cause the whole instrument to collapse on itself), and/or there's any risk of damaging the keybed and electronics, I'll happily stay with my burgundy plastic sides!

Thanx BBblues! Yes now the Electro 5 is the direct competitor of the SK line, even if the two products remain a bit separate IMHO: Nord remains more piano-oriented (more and better pianos, piano-style action available), while SK is more towards organ (more organ and Leslie types, WAY more customizable, two-manual version available). As for the hiss, after taking the SK2 to rehearsals I'm quite relieved: it is an annoiance only at home through headphones, but in a mix it gets totally lost, no trouble at all! Really happy with my new toy! BTW, what's there in your avatar? Is that a SK2 coated with wood-style dc-fix? I was thinking of doing exactly the same thing, you could give me some tips!

My new SK2 arrived yesterday! First impression: I LOVE the organ sound. It definitely has a different personality compared to the Nord I had previously. The Nord was not bad at all, but the SK sounds... don't know exactly how to describe it, more "present", I can hear more clearly each drawbar tone. And the Leslie is killer, even before doing any tweaking. The quality of the extra voices surprised me: I had read everywhere that they were more than decent and quite usable, but I must say that even on headphones the APs, EPs and Clavs are quite good. I'm still using the factory settings, didn't do any tweaking yet, so I'm sure I will get much more out of the beast, as soon as I start digging into the menus. First thing I'll do is install Jim A's custom tonewheel set, I've read so much good things about it, and considering how good the "factory" sound is, can't wait to hear an even better one! The looks and design are somewhat "80-ish", but I don't really care. Build quality is ok, maybe a bit too much plastic here and there (especially the side blocks) but I can live with it, as long as it doesn't compromise reliability. If I liked more Nord's all-metal-and-real-wood chassis, I actually prefer the SK2's buttons: the organ-related ones (perc and Leslie) are larger and more easily accessible, I like the LED indicators integrated in the buttons, and in general they feel a bit less flimsy than Nord's. Volume of the Extra Voices is a bit erratic (some are really quiet compared to the organ), but that will easily be fixed with some editing and saving of the favourites. BUT... there is a pretty big "but". The dreaded "hiss" issue with the Extra Voices. Unfortunately, I'm in the group of users that notices this. I confirm all of the previous reports: it is present in most extra voices, at varying intensity depending on the specific voice. With some it's barely perceptible, with some it's a real issue. It gets worse adding effects and with large polyphony (chords using damper pedal). It's definitely volume-related: as long as Master Volume and EV Volume are below 12 o'clock, it's basically unperceptible. Raising the EV Volume doesn't do much harm, while raising the Master Volume above 2-3 o'clock makes it VERY noticeable. At home, on headphones, I can control it easily by turning down the Master volume to around 9 o'clock and cranking up the EV volume (the organ volume is pretty "hot" anyway, no risk of it getting drowned by the EVs). But I have to verify how it will sound live on PA, where I won't always have full volume control (and many times you're forced to crank it up in the "arms race" with the guitarists). From the reports I've read, I'm quite convinced it's not a hardware issue, I can't imagine how a hardware defect could apply only to certain voices, and only with certain settings. It sounds more like an intrinsic problem in the EV sounds. Probably residing not so much in the sounds themselves but in the processing software chain, as the problem gets worse adding effects and polyphony. I think the difference in the "annoyance level" between the users depends on the individual tolerance threshold, and most of all on the myriad different uses, settings and amplification systems each of us uses. I can perfectly imagine that in most situations the thing is just not an issue. Anyway, as it seems it's easily controllable with the volume levels, I'm not really worried about it, and I don't plan to return the instrument as some users did. Nevertheless, it's a small annoyance I could have lived without.

wow, lots of useful info, thank you all SO much! And don't worry, as soon as I get my SK2 I will take the time to study the manual carefully and read all this topic, so I will not pester you with useless questions! I use the Nord half-moon with the SK2. I even painted the Nord logo black on it. I have both, but I prefer the Nord one because it's solid. thank you, this is exactly the info I was looking for. What do you mean the Nord is "solid"? Is the Hammond half-moon made of plastic? Or does it feel wobbly, or something? As for the velcro thing, is it not possible to screw the Nord half moon on the SK2? Is the spacing/size of the screws different? I really like the nord half moon and I'd like to keep it (as you say, it feels quite solid and reliable), but I'd prefer to fix it with the screws and keep it in place, if possible. thanks again for all the inputs, I love this community!

thanks so much for the answer. I wasn't really thinking about storing separate presets for organ and EV, but for the two organ manuals. Basically, was wondering if there is a function like the reverse-colour keys on a real Hammond (or the "Preset" buttons on the C2 and Mojo): a quick, one-touch way to recall drawbar settings independently on one or the other manual. So I can, for example, keep comping on the lower manual with 808000000, but on the upper istantly go from 888000000 to 888888888 for a crescendo or solo. So, if I understand it correctly (can't check the manual right now) there is no such function, the Favourite buttons always store the settings of both manuals. But it can be aproximated by telling the instrument not to load certain parts of a patch. Or I can imagine other workarounds (storing several Favourites with the same Lower drawbar settings but different Upper, or simply... using the drawbars live! ) Still, it seems strange that such a basic function is not directly implemented, as it is in all other clones...and in the original. Whatever, it's not really a dealbreaker, I think the other advantages are more than enough to get the SK2 anyway!

slowly going through the topic, I found this: so my question no.2 is answered, on with the search!

hi guys, sorry if this is something already discussed in the topic, but it's hard to check out all the 40 pages... I'm almost about to replace my Nord C2+Sonic Cell with the SK2, in order to reduce the amount of gear-cables-hassle. I only have a few final doubts before pulling the trigger: 1- will the Nord half-moon work on the SK2? Is the wiring and screw spacing the same, or I'd better not even try and get the Hammond CU1 half-moon straight away? (it's obviously much easier to sell the nord halfmoon together with the C2, and buy the CU1 bundled with the SK2) 2- will the SK2 fit in the Nord bag? I like the Nord bag much better than Hammond's (more handles, bigger pockets, and most of all WHEELS) and I'd like to keep it. I'm almost sure the SK2 will fit (it's only 1cm deeper and taller, but there should be enough room), just wanting to know if anybody has tried this. 3- most important question. I began studying the SK2 manual in earnest, and was surprised by one thing. Is it possible that there are no upper-lower manual drawbar presets? If I got it right, the "favourite" buttons store the whole state of the instrument (upper+lower+extra voices), is there no way to recall upper/lower drawbar settings independently? It's one of the main features of real Hammonds, and every other clonewheel (even the first Electros!) have ways to recall presets. Looks like a serious missing feature, especially on a board sporting the Hammond name! Or, as I hope, is there some option in the user manual that I missed? thanks so much guys!

ooops, missed this, I was looking only at the spec tables. Thank you! So it seems that the SK1 88 has a semi-weighted 88-keys waterfall keybed... very interesting, as I cannot find anything like that on the FATAR website. And there's nothing like that in the product lines of the other brands that use FATAR (Nord, Kurtzweil, Studiologic etc). It's most probably custom made for Hammond-Suzuki, then. Ok, my geek curiosity is satisfied, thanks again!

Hi everybody, just a quick question. From the specs, I can't understand if the SK1 88 has a waterfall or piano-style keybed. Any owner that can tell me? Actually my curiosity started while looking up the datasheets of FATAR keybeds, as it seems that FATAR doesn't have an 88-waterfall listed. Is it custom-made for Hammond-Suzuki only?+ Thanks a lot guys!

dont know if they've been mentioned before, but lately I'm quite hooked to these guys [video:youtube]

You are in for quite a show. I'm sure of it... can't wait! If I ever move to Brooklyn, Snarky Puppy would be one of the main reasons why!

Hi guys! After a couple of years of lurking I finally started writing... and promptly forgot to introduce myself! (Definitely my mom didn't teach me proper netiquette ) Anyway, here I am: Lorenzo from the faraway half-forgotten North-Eastern corner of Italy (Trieste, that's it). Raised on classical piano, then shifted to jazz about 15 years ago, and then moved to rock-fusion-funky-covers-whatever. And so since the last 9-10 years I'm in the apparently never-ending process of exploring EPs, organs, synths, MIDI, programming and sound modules. And in the meantime I sing and, most important, play kazoo! I currently play in a Beatles tribute band, a generic rock cover band, and I'm setting up my own jazz-funky-fusion thing. I recently Nord-ified, trading all my venerable steam-powered keys for a Stage2 and C2. And that's more or less it, it's great to be here! ciao, Lorenzo

and yes, Cory is just annoying... could he be just a little LESS talented, so we mere humans can avoid feeling humiliated?

Finally going to see these guys - they're coming to Italy in July at UmbriaJazz. It's one of the greatest European jazz festival, for 10 days the beautiful medioeval town of Perugia becames a venue of uninterrupted live music. Apart from the big names (this year we have Scofield, Bollani, Hancock, Shorter, Monty Alexander, Rubalcaba, Hiromi, Michel Camilo, just to name a few) playing in theatres and arenas, there's music just about everywhere in the streets, bars, restaurants, squares... and out of all this mess, Snarky Puppy were the very first event I bought a ticket for! Can't wait!!!