Yamaha S80 keybed

[Skinny]

I've done a lot of searching, but can't find a definite answer...

 

Does anyone know if the Yamaha S80 keys suffer from the "sticky key" problem that was notorious on the S90 and some other models?

[tucktronix]

I've owned an S80 for 10 years and never had an issue with sticky keys

[StanC]

I had an S80 for about 3 or 4 years and it had a key bed problem that I wouldn't describe as "sticky". Nevertheless, the symptom was on a couple of keys I could feel a "slapback", as if after depressing the key the hammer was still in motion. A nano second after depressing I could feel the effect of something hitting the key or the key mechanism from under the key. Took it to a local repair guy. When I described the problem and tried to demonstrate, it went something like this. "Here play this key. Feel that?" I got a look like I had two heads. (Needless to say the repair guy was not a keyboard player.) So he said he would open it up and check it all out anyway. Went to pick it up a couple days later - same problem still exists. So he contacted Yamaha and it was still under warranty, so Yamaha replaced the entire key bed. That fixed the problem - for a couple of weeks, until the same problem reappeared on a couple of different keys! ARRGH!! So the final solution was easy. A little research told me Yamaha had redesigned the entire keybed for the new S90s. I bought one. After 5 years now, it has no "slapback" and 0 sticky keys.

[ProfD]

I've owned an S80 for 10 years and never had an issue with sticky keys

Same here. I bought one of the first S80s to hit the music store and kept it for about 8 years with no keybed issues.

[DanS]

I've owned an S80 for 10 years and never had an issue with sticky keys

 

+1. I had mine for 10 as well, then bought an S70XS, which developed a sticky key after 2 years.

Yamaha replaced the keypads under warranty. I was told I might be playing it a bit hard, so I've learned to turn it up live.

[Skinny]

Thanks for the responses so far, guys. I'm thinking of picking up a used one, but wasn't sure if it suffered from sticky keys or not.

 

Not to say that it couldn't happen; I just haven't been sure if it was a huge problem, like on the S90. I know that was one of the models that, if you contacted Yamaha, you could possibly get a free keybed replacement, provided you had a serial # that met their criteria. I remember my church's Clavinova (CVP-207) was eligible for a free keybed replacement, too.

[davenord]

HI I have an s80 with a key problem but not sure if its the same. Some notes I hit sound very loud as if I had hit them very hard however soft I play them, also with a sort of clunky short decay sound. I've had this in the past on some keys and its gone away after a while but recently Ive had a couple of keys that seems to be happening all the time.

 

also the aftertouch I've noticed need to push quite hard to get any effect which makes it hard to use it creatively.

 

I wonder if this is the same problem you guys are discussing or something else. ive had this board for 12+ years and have not been kind to it so Im not really suprised. just wondered what part(s) I need to replace or could it do with a clean (it does get dusty...).I guess a new keybed likely to be more than the resale value??

 

thanks for any ideas! dave

[humannoyed]

 

HI I have an s80 with a key problem but not sure if its the same. Some notes I hit sound very loud as if I had hit them very hard however soft I play them, also with a sort of clunky short decay sound. I've had this in the past on some keys and its gone away after a while but recently Ive had a couple of keys that seems to be happening all the time.

 

I wonder if this is the same problem you guys are discussing or something else. ive had this board for 12+ years and have not been kind to it so Im not really suprised. just wondered what part(s) I need to replace or could it do with a clean (it does get dusty...).I guess a new keybed likely to be more than the resale value??

 

thanks for any ideas! dave

 

welcome to the forum

 

I replaced a flexible contact strip that ran the length of my S80. It fixed the velocity problems you describe. From another posting I perhaps could have just taken the old one out and cleaned it and the contact area with a vaccum or air blast before replacing. It was not a difficult fix. I have since sold my S80.

 

Never had sticking keys on the S80, but had two just last week on my Motif ES8. It was just one large piece of grit between two adjacent keys that I could see with a flashlight shined through the keys from the front with the room lights off.

Used a thin knife to free it.

 

 

 

 

also the aftertouch I've noticed need to push quite hard to get any effect which makes it hard to use it creatively.

 

Perhaps you were thinking of another keyboard? The S80 does not send AT.

 

 

 

[The_Star_Guy]

also the aftertouch I've noticed need to push quite hard to get any effect which makes it hard to use it creatively.

 

Perhaps you were thinking of another keyboard? The S80 does not send AT.

 

 

 

 

I had an S-80 for 4 years and it absolutely DOES have aftertouch! Yamaha built the S-80 with a modified version of it's Action Effect Keyboard first used in the PF-150 piano precisely because they were trying to develop a low-cost weighted action that could still send after-touch. However, the S-80 shipped with the after-touch effect set to a default value of zero for the majority of the factory voices, so if someone used the factory voices & they are all still at factory default settings and never edited, one might think that it did not have it. Hopefully the "flexible strip" that you replaced was not the after-touch pressure strip designed to generate the effect. Yamaha did get a lot of feedback from S-80 owners that the aftertouch was indeed somewhat difficult to engage, and also interfered with the action, which is why they developed the balanced-hammer action used in the Motif/ES/XS line.

[humannoyed]

Thanks for correcting me on this!

I obviously never used it, and was of the understanding when I bought it that it did not send AT (but could recieve channel AT data over midi), so never gave it a second thought.

 

The contact strip I replaced in the S80 corrected the velocity sensing problem where a couple of keys struck only lightly produced maximum velocity. It played as good as new with the new strip.

 

I have found that AT is poorly documented in the Motif ES manual. Took me forever to figure out the first time I used it.

 

 

 

also the aftertouch I've noticed need to push quite hard to get any effect which makes it hard to use it creatively.

 

Perhaps you were thinking of another keyboard? The S80 does not send AT.

 

 

 

 

I had an S-80 for 4 years and it absolutely DOES have aftertouch! Yamaha built the S-80 with a modified version of it's Action Effect Keyboard first used in the PF-150 piano precisely because they were trying to develop a low-cost weighted action that could still send after-touch. However, the S-80 shipped with the after-touch effect set to a default value of zero for the majority of the factory voices, so if someone used the factory voices & they are all still at factory default settings and never edited, one might think that it did not have it. Hopefully the "flexible strip" that you replaced was not the after-touch pressure strip designed to generate the effect. Yamaha did get a lot of feedback from S-80 owners that the aftertouch was indeed somewhat difficult to engage, and also interfered with the action, which is why they developed the balanced-hammer action used in the Motif/ES/XS line.