G# blues - broke a black key

[henrysb3]

I have a Roland JV30 that I bought used about ten years ago. I went to a jam session Sunday night and started to play the intro to "In My Life" when I realized that the G# above middle C would not come back up. I assume this is some kind of spring that needs replaced.

 

Question: What is involved in the repair? I haven't opened my tool box yet, and I've heard that this might involve completely disassembling the instrument to get under the keyboard. I have been a troubleshooter all my life (it seems) and have fixed a lot of stuff. I don't really like working on cars - I get enough hand damage in my regular job - but I like working on things I know I can reassemble without special tools.

 

If this is professional territory, what would be a reasonable ballpark estimate on cost?

 

I need to make a choice soon, as I need to know whether to:

 

1. Try to fix it myself.

2. Take it to a shop for repair.

3. Look for a replacement.

4. Get a controller.

 

I have an acoustic piano and a Yamaha all-in-one Porta series to play. The Yamaha actually has some pretty nice voices, but it's a consumer product that might break faster than the ten + years for the Roland.

 

Any input appreciated,

 

Henry

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

I think it would behoove your creativity to not fix the key. Instead, every time you would normally play the key, try another inversion instead. And besides, you don't play much in F minor, right?

 

 

No, of course I'm kidding. But I, too, have had keyboards with sprung keys before, and taken the "creative" approach until getting it fixed.

 

Which, by the way, would be my recommendation...have someone else fix it. But that's just me. Many would consider that heresy.

 

- Jeff

[Slowly]

I fix keyboards on the side for friends and such, and I'd say, if you don't have at least 5 years experience in the repair of electronics, don't even tighten loose screws. the key pad is the last thing to come out, after everything else. If your Roland is like any of the others I've worked on, they have single use screw holes, once you take the screw out, the hole is pretty much ruined. Putting the screw back you must be extra careful to use the same threads the first installation bored. Cause if you don't, the screw will have nothing to grab a hold of. The same damage can be caused by over-tightening same said screw. There is also a lot of jumper wires that must be unplugged and putting them back into the wrong place and you will have a cooked board.

But if you still desire to do this your-self, see if you can secure the spring for the keys, because most likely that spring is broken, secondly, it will be the anchor that that spring went to. If it's the anchor, Oh my God. That will be a trickly repair involving super glue and wire-core twist ties. Hit me up on PM if its the anchor.

Use a numbering or color coding system for everything and video tape each and every step, that way if you get into trouble just look at the video tape to help figure it out. Good luck. Kcbass

 

P.S.Discharge static electricity from your body also, one little spark that you can't see or feel can wreck havoc on sensitive electronic components.

[Allan Speers]

I would say, go ahead and do it yourself, as it's usually pretty easy (but follow Kcbass's good ssuggestions. HOWEVER, good luck getting a key. roland won't sell you one, and it's unlikely that your repair shop will either. they want to charge you $95 for the ten minute job.

 

I've been through this so many times.

 

Bad LCD in my TG-77. It's a 15 minute swap-job at the most. Can I buy one? Nope. $200 repair at the tech shop.

 

Busted key? Worn felt pad? bad fader? So sorry. Parts not available. $80 per hour bench charge.

 

What a racket.

 

If someone knows how to get parts for Roland and Yamaha, PLEASE clue me in! My local Music stores won't order them, they tell me to order through the repair shops, and round and round it goes....

[Carlito]

I have opened all the keyboards I've had for the last 20 years just to see how they looked inside.( Please don't tell anyone about this aberration).

It never seemed to affect their behavior.Only a few things you should know: Always unplug the power cord.Put your keyboard upside down on a soft surface and take the bottom cover off. For any screws different in size or shape,put an X or circle on the hole they belong to.Now put it back up , and try to lift the dashboard away from the keys.You might need to remove a couple more screws to do that.Now you can check the key. Whatever the problem might be, you can always swap that key with the lowest or the highest black key on your keyboard.I hope the little spring is not broken and only needs to be put back in place. Good luck.

[henrysb3]

Thanks, kind friends for the advice. I have decided to give it a try. The video and tagging advice is a good idea for any repair of something you haven't disassembled before. I wish I had known that when I tore my dad's outboard motor apart somewhere around age ten, a little before Ampex came up with the videotape concept. Wanted to see the piston. Jeff, I play with a lot of guitarists who for some reason like the key of E, plus one of my songs uses an F minor, so G# kinda has a reason in my life, other than "In My Life". If I can't find parts, I may just try to move the defective key as per your suggestion.

 

"There are places I remember

all my life,

though some have changed.

Some forever, not for better;

some have gone,

and some remain."

 

On my Roland, I love them (keys) all.

 

I usually hang out over at Anderton's, but I want to say thanks again, this place is a wonderful, colorful collection of really great people.

 

namaste

 

Henry

[henrysb3]

A three-week-later update: it's back up and running. I asked my daughter to take digital pics while I was disassembling it, used a static wristband and Static Guard on my clothes, as it's really bad right now, even with extra humidification in the house. The key had broken at its pivot point. I used the low C# at the bottom of my keyboard, shook the broken piece and spring out of the case, then super glued the key back together and put it in the place of the low C#. The only tools I needed were a good phillips and some longnose pliers.

 

I looked this synth up on eBay, and there were a couple that looked like they would go around $300, about a third of what I paid for it used eight or ten years ago, so I decided that home surgery would not be so tragic if I couldn't fix it.

 

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

Henry

[Slowly]

Originally posted by henrysb3:

A three-week-later update: it's back up and running. I asked my daughter to take digital pics while I was disassembling it, used a static wristband and Static Guard on my clothes, as it's really bad right now, even with extra humidification in the house. The key had broken at its pivot point. I used the low C# at the bottom of my keyboard, shook the broken piece and spring out of the case, then super glued the key back together and put it in the place of the low C#. The only tools I needed were a good phillips and some longnose pliers.

 

I looked this synth up on eBay, and there were a couple that looked like they would go around $300, about a third of what I paid for it used eight or ten years ago, so I decided that home surgery would not be so tragic if I couldn't fix it.

 

Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions.

 

Henry

Good you are back up and running, and avoided all the pitfalls. Kcbass