What causes this?

[Synthaholic]

Pardon the glare. I had a difficult time getting a good photo, so I'm including two of them.

 

What causes these key degradations? All of my old Alesis synths have them, also. Back then, I assumed it had to do with acidic skin or something, but since I've been playing this PC4-7 I have been obsessive about washing my hands after setup, before playing a note.

 

Does anyone else have this issue?

 

[AUSSIEKEYS]

Far out I never seen anything like that. 

 

Are we are looking at the key actually physically gouged or acid gouged to a fairly deep depth

 

I have 2 alesis synths one a QS6.1 i used a year ago and has nothing like that. The other an early Quadrasynth plus and although i havent seen it in years it never had anything like that. Its coming out of storage very soon ill have a look. I dont think its an alesis trait

[Jose EB5AGV]

Nails? 🤔

[jazzpiano88]

3 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

Back then, I assumed it had to do with acidic skin or something

 

25 minutes ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

Nails? 🤔

Could it be the Horta?  Seriously though it looks like it’s gotta be some interference damage. Maybe something about the cases?  Very strange position to be done by fingers 

 

[Thethirdapple]

Only on those keys is truly bizarre. 
 

🤕
 

Sure on old “ivory”, we’ve all seen “finger wear”, but geez… makes my head hurt.

 

And I thought I was heavy handed when playing 🙃

 

 

PEACE

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[cphollis]

It looks like you loaned the board to a werewolf during a full moon.

[Sean M. H.]

I have nothing to add, other than....like the others who've responded--I've never seen anything like that before!

 

Someone mentioned the possibility of your case causing the damage...1) are you by chance using the same case with the Kurzweil that you were using with the old Alesis board?...2) are the damaged keys around the same area/range on both the Kurz and the Alesis

[Docbop]

dam dog has been playing my keyboard again!!!!

[obxa]

Weird.  I'm very curious- some kind of plastic degradation or possibly (constant) exposure to sunlight?

I have a ridiculous amount of reading glasses with plastic arms.  Constantly see several pairs- brand new or old where one or both those arms get krinkled or mottled- no rhyme or reason unless my hair contains high PH acid.. Mystifies me. 

[J.F.N.]

You should set up a camera, those cat playing the keyboard videos will get a lot of views on the tube!🤣

[MathOfInsects]

Did you have something set up on the keyboard to read charts from, or an effects box of some kind--anything that might have slid down one day and you didn't notice until long enough after not to connect the event to this gouge? This is a very specific bit of damage that had to happen from something either closed against it in the case, or being dropped/sliding down with some exposed edge scraping against that key. The only other option I could think of, if you bought this used, was that a previous owner did that and filled it with something that recently dislodged and left the original damage exposed. 

[Baldwin Funster]

Acidic content of sour notes?

[JimboKeys]

Fingernail scratches seem not that far-fetched — think of where your index finger goes when playing an A-flat or B-flat triad in root position. 
 

— Jimbo

[K K]

Looks like something very hot melting/scraping the plastic as it slowly moves. Could be a forgotten soldering iron on the keys while you repaired some wires, or you forgot your keyboard in the sun under a magnifying glass, or you recently played a tribute to Pink Floyd in Pompeii and didn't notice the Vesuvia shown warning signs of an impending eruption. In this latter case, you should call Italian authorities ASAP.

[jazzpiano88]

Possibly an eagle’s talons as it tried to grip the keys?  Or an Owl.  I’m still betting on a Horta. 

[re Pete]

Ring(s)? 

I cringe when I see someone playing an expensive acoustic with them especially with glissandos.

[Synthaholic]

Thank you all for your responses.

 

• This keyboard never sees sunlight. On the rare occasions I play outdoors I am always under cover.
• It rarely even comes into the house. When I'm not playing it, it resides in an ultra-soft micro-fleece interior of a Gator Pro-Go 76

 

 

• I read a few of these replies before I played a luncheon today, so I was paying attention to my fingering, and my fingernails do not meet the keys very often, but sometimes! And my fingernails are usually very short.
• I also have a few keys with these indents on the lowest C and D on this 76 key PC4-7.
• I have a very light touch - no piano in my background, just organ and synths.
• I don't wear rings or any jewelry anywhere.
• I wouldn't let a soldering iron anywhere near my keys. And like I said, it stays in the car.
• I don't read music or charts.

 

Here's one of my ancient Quadrasynths:

 

 

 

Now, my fingers don't travel that far up that B key, no matter what I'm playing. And certainly not enough times to wear a groove. There is also a smaller indent on the lowest D of this 76-key board. It's also high up on the key. This keyboard spent it's life in a wooden road case with eggshell foam.

[jazzpiano88]

I'm guessing a pest has gotten into your house or keyboard area (most likely a rodent - a mouse skidding his claws, or more likely teeth. across your keys to successfully escape if you haven't found any carcass). 

 

EDIT:   I just read that your keyboard stays in your car.    Definitely a critter.    That's where they like to go. -- chewing their way out.  Your signature is on your keys are obviously teeth, I think.

 

[Synthaholic]

53 minutes ago, jazzpiano88 said:

I'm guessing a pest has gotten into your house or keyboard area (most likely a rodent - a mouse skidding his claws, or more likely teeth. across your keys to successfully escape if you haven't found any carcass). 

 

EDIT:   I just read that your keyboard stays in your car.    Definitely a critter.    That's where they like to go. -- chewing their way out.  Your signature is on your keys are obviously teeth, I think.

 

Okay. I'm really hoping for serious answers.

[jazzpiano88]

15 minutes ago, Synthaholic said:

Okay. I'm really hoping for serious answers.

 

I'm serious.  This is rodent damage.   Kicker is you keep the keyboards in your car.  

[Synthaholic]

37 minutes ago, jazzpiano88 said:

 

I'm serious.  This is rodent damage.   Kicker is you keep the keyboards in your car.  

Dude. Did they learn how to unzip my Gator case, then zip it up again? I thought we were all adults here.

[Jose EB5AGV]

Some time ago I found that my beloved VPC1 showed some slight marks on the exact same spots as you show, right in the middle (horizontally) of some keys, and I attributed that to the repetitive use of the keys. I also keep my nails very short, but sometimes they touch the keys, so that was the reason to suggest it was the cause in yours. I don't see any other possibilities except wear due to playing. Perhaps there is something special in your skin that increases it. Some time ago I had a colleague at work who had a seemingly acid sweat on his hands. Everything metallic he usually touched, got some kind of oxidizing on it 

 

Here you have some pictures of my VPC1. I have struggled to get the marks spotted, as they need some lighting across them in order to show. In this case is not noticeable to the touch, just the finish texture of the keys is slightly damaged, it seems. But as you can see, the location of the marks is very similar to yours on first two pictures. The third is on another part of the keys which also show some marks.

 

I am not sure when this happened, because I bought the keyboard used in 2020, and it is a 2016 unit. Former owner was a professional piano player and used it as a silent practice keyboard (his wife had some health problems and didn't stand the piano sound), so he probably used it quite a lot more than I do, but I had not noticed it until some months ago. It is not easy to spot on my current location because, as you can see on last picture, it is lighted in a way that makes it difficult to spot.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Jose

 

 

 

 

[Thethirdapple]

Piano WebMD suggests that you are not alone and perhaps the ph of hand cream or soap is “causing” a reaction ?

Even if you rarely action those keys, even gentling sliding over time may cause degradation if the keytop is chemically altered.

 

Did you notice this “one day” and it was not damaged the day before? Or is this a slow decent into keytop hell?

Is the damage getting worse?

 

A rodent? Maybe if its working out some new chord structure 🙃

 

PEACE

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[jazzpiano88]

20 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

21 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

I'm serious.  This is rodent damage.   Kicker is you keep the keyboards in your car.  

Dude. Did they learn how to unzip my Gator case, then zip it up again? I thought we were all adults here.

 

I wasn't trying to be childish.   From experience I know that Rodents find their way into impossibly small openings.  A tiny gap in zipper is nothing to a determined critter in an outside environment.   

 

I wouldn't suspect acid coming out of your fingers only because it would cause more widespread damage than the gouges your photos show.

 

[ksoper]

"Bury me beneath the willow,
Under the weeping willow tree.
So she may know where I am sleeping,
And perhaps she'll weep for me."

 

 

But seriously, my boards have nail scratches from enthusiastic glissandi but I've never encountered anything like that short of blunt force trauma. No help here.  

[MathOfInsects]

I know it's an obvious question, but have you looked at the inside top of the case, the part that would rest on those keys, to see if there is anything there? I don't mean something that is rubbing the keys, I mean the crusty remnants of plastic melting or decaying. Knowing that it lives in your car full time makes me wonder if it's heat- or weather-related in some way. 

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

Fingernails, or some sort of product applied to the hands which is attacking the keys, would be my guesses.

 

I have seen car dashboards where the oft-used buttons were etched away or melted by various hand cremes used by their (usually) female drivers.  It's no stretch to imagine the same could happen to a keyboard.

[Mr -G-]

Maybe...

...the foam that you put on top of the keybed contained some kind of slow releasing agent (e.g. a solvent used in the production) that eventually causes plastic damage? If you kept the instrument always in the bag, then it could be a long time exposure.

 

...the force of playing on the keys could induce a tiny flexing on that region that causes micro-fractures on the surface (so you see the cumulative effect). If so, I would expect that to be a common observation, though. Has this been reported elsewhere?

 

...the batch of plastic used was of a lower quality than expected?

 

...all or some combination of the above?

 

[Reezekeys]

You guys are overthinking this. It's nails, pure & simple. Check out my older A800 -

 

 

 

On 3/27/2024 at 11:15 PM, Synthaholic said:

Now, my fingers don't travel that far up that B key, no matter what I'm playing.

 

I thought the same thing. Then I played my typical voicing for a Db9 chord:

 

 

Notice in your pics how the black keys don't exhibit these same marks? Neither do mine. That's because their height causes the point of contact to be more on the balls of your fingertips - farther from the nail. I don't think we're entirely cognizant of how hard we're hitting these plastic keys during a typical gig or playing session.

 

 

[TommyRude]