Yamaha YC61 keybed issues

[ewall08530]

7 hours ago, Docbop said:

 

Yes, I laughed too they made it too much like a Nord!

I have a nearly 5 year old Nord Stage 3 Compact.  I’ve never heard anything approaching the clacking noise coming from these YC 61’s.  I realize everyone’s experience is different but I pay that much for Nord keyboards partly based on the build quality.  I’ve never been disappointed.  Just my 2 cents.  😎

[Sam Mullins]

44 minutes ago, ewall08530 said:

I have a nearly 5 year old Nord Stage 3 Compact.  I’ve never heard anything approaching the clacking noise coming from these YC 61’s.  I realize everyone’s experience is different but I pay that much for Nord keyboards partly based on the build quality.  I’ve never been disappointed.  Just my 2 cents.  😎

I've had three Nord keyboards over the last decade or so (Electro 3, Stage 2 88, Stage 3 88).  As another data point, I did have a problem with clacky keys on my Stage 2 when I first got it.  Turned out it was the spacer posts from the chassis to the panel that were too short.  Actually solved it myself by adding washer internally.   Otherwise have had good experience with Nord reliability. 

 

 

[rogs]

Our local store has the YC61 back in stock after a gap of several months -- so it's new stock. 

I tried out the one they have on display, and have to report that the keybed felt very different to mine - which is now some 3 years old.

Much smoother and quieter .... I feel sure Yamaha are now applying much more grease during assembly. 

Mine has felt the same all the way through.... Not overtly noisy, but I don't think it has  ever had much grease!....

Looks as if Yamaha may now have addressed this problem.

 

I'm still wondering whether to have mine re-greased.  I don't trust our local Yamaha agent, and am very tempted to look at it myself.

The actual Molykote G10 grease used seems quite expensive from Yamaha -- maybe cheaper elsewhere?

And I'd love to see the service manual to know which screws to remove -- and which to leave untouched! 

I have seen a picture of a YC73 with the top cover removed -- although I can't remember where now, which is annoying!

 

Could be a simple and effective procedure -- or an absolute nightmare....Hmmm ... maybe I'll just leave it !

[Paul Woodward]

Where are you based?

I would recommend the degrease if you can, it changes the keyboard from clacks, cheap feeling to something that feels like a quality item.

[rogs]

13 hours ago, Paul Woodward said:

Where are you based?

I would recommend the degrease if you can, it changes the keyboard from clacks, cheap feeling to something that feels like a quality item.

I'm on the south coast of the UK - as I mentioned in our earlier exchange of posts in this thread in December.

I know you had yours done in the Nottiingham area.... That's quite  a long way for me! ...   

I'm quite happy to do the re-greasing myself (I was a Hammond organ 'tech' back in the day ).

It would be nice to know the best way to get at the keybed --- there are a lot of screws holding the YC61 together, and if only few need to actually be removed, it would be good to know which ones they are?.

As I mentioned in my post above, the new stock YC61s seem to feel quite  a lot smoother..... 

[Paul Woodward]

7 hours ago, rogs said:

I'm on the south coast of the UK - as I mentioned in our earlier exchange of posts in this thread in December.

I know you had yours done in the Nottiingham area.... That's quite  a long way for me! ...   

I'm quite happy to do the re-greasing myself (I was a Hammond organ 'tech' back in the day ).

It would be nice to know the best way to get at the keybed --- there are a lot of screws holding the YC61 together, and if only few need to actually be removed, it would be good to know which ones they are?.

As I mentioned in my post above, the new stock YC61s seem to feel quite  a lot smoother..... 

I suspect it’s just the grease, not an improved keybed. After the ‘repair’, mine didn’t just feel ‘fixed’, it felt brand new, smooth and quiet if that makes sense. I imagine that’s what the new stock feels like. Probably changed the greasing process during manufacture. It really was night and day. It was repaired in one day (dropped off early evening, collected next afternoon) so can’t be too demanding. I’m really surprised, given how common this seems to be, that there are no stripdown/repair vids out there.

[Paul Woodward]

I am the ‘second’ owner of this yet the seller provided me with the receipt (and he got the board from a shop at a very low promo price for some reason) so Yamaha honoured the warranty and covered the repair. They knew exactly what was wrong from my description but never suggested a replacement board/keys was necessary. I was really surprised that ‘just’ grease would make this much difference.

if there are no reliable repair centres near you, could you not courier it there and back rather than open it yourself?

sounds like you can manage it though, given your background 🙂

[Cesarsound]

 

[Paul Woodward]

I think I held my breath through the whole process!! Nice work sir, but seeing the keys exposed there reminded me why I sold mine on. Its a beautiful machine and sounds great, but that keybed was the breaking point for me. Sluggish, low trigger point, noisy (over time) and really disappointing to find out it used that flexi hinge/multipart construction that minikeys use on many boards. One key goes, you are replacing 3 or 4 at a time.

I always wondered how durable the toggles were, did it break through normal use or did you catch/hit it?

[UnderGroundGr]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:45 PM, ewall08530 said:

I have a nearly 5 year old Nord Stage 3 Compact.  I’ve never heard anything approaching the clacking noise coming from these YC 61’s.  I realize everyone’s experience is different but I pay that much for Nord keyboards partly based on the build quality.  I’ve never been disappointed.  Just my 2 cents.  😎

I had the first Nord Stage 88 and i send it back twice because of clacking noises. Then i bought electro 3 and i had the same problem twice...this was the last nord product for me...