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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby Rychubil » 17 Jul 2017, 12:37

Thanks Ben
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise


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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby baekgaard » 19 Jul 2017, 10:24

Dave Ferris wrote:
Mr_-G- wrote:Quite annoying I am sure, yet things like that happen. I can think of the Roland red glue, the Kronos keybed, Yamaha non-returning keys, DX7 wrongly implemented MIDI velocity and Roland JX10 buggy sysex implementation (the last 2 never fixed as far as I know). [...]


I don't own a Nord Piano, so forgive me for entering this part of the forums -- just want to add my perspective to things. Apologies for the quite long post:

My first set of keys sit in an acoustic Grand Piano that I've been playing for around 40 years now. It needs some loving care from time to time (it was built some 90 years ago), but with proper maintenance, it still plays well although it's ready for a re-intonation soon. This is still my main acoustic instrument.

My next set of keys was a Rhodes 73 Suitcase model (that I regrettably don't have any longer). It had a somewhat weird and sloppy action, and the tines needed constant tweaking and tuning. It was also a beast to schlep up and down the stairs to our apartment and didn't fit well into my car at that time (and probably wouldn't fit my current car either)... Other than that, it was wonderful :-)

Then came a brand new Yamaha upright (C-108). It plays really nicely for an upright, also after 25 years of playing, but it required several rounds of tweaking to overcome an issue with the "escapement" action that didn't feel quite right as delivered. Other than that, it's still good (but of course needs regular maintenance too).

The onto a Roland JV-80. The action was extremely light and grew very noisy over time (and still is). The pitch bender circuitry also has an "issue", so whenever I power it on, I must bend fully up and down for it to settle correctly around 0 afterwards -- otherwise the instrument doesn't play in tune... scared me a bit first time I experienced this, but the "fix" is easy once you know what it is.

The Yamaha P-150 I got next was played a lot live, and eventually the keys wore out. There is a spring that presses the keys back to the resting position, and it gradually "eats" into the plastic, so the keys start to hang a bit below the normal levels. Apart from letting you know which keys you play the most, it became a bit annoying, so I had to replace many of the keys with new spare ones. Took half a day to fix, and it still plays OK (actually someone else borrowed it two days ago as a quick replacement, when their Roland RD-600 suddenly broke just before a gig). It does have another quirk, though: Sometimes it believes the sostenuto pedal is pressed down (even if nothing is mounted). It is usually fixed by rebooting or plugging an empty cable into the plug and removing it again.

My Nord Electro 3 with SW keys (which came hereafter) has no key problems, but it's a little noisy (as it has always been). It's around 8 years and have seen a lot of playing time too, and shows no obvious signs of wear. I thought it had an issue with the swell pedal circuitry, but it eventually turned out to be the pedal cable.

Then unto my Roland RD-700NX (6 years old now). After about 3 months of playing, the surface of the keys were so scratched that I had white plastic dust on my fingers after playing it... I got the entire keybed replaced under warranty, and decided to go for keys with a more closed surface. The surface on those is still fine. The action, however nice it plays, is actually quite loud -- just tested it again next to some of the others set up here. I think it's the loudest action of the bunch.

I've very recently added a Nord Stage 3 to the family... Surprisingly, it is the most quiet action of the bunch (much quieter also than the Stage 2 EX's I've played). I like the action so far, and also the sound/key connection. It is a little on the light side, but since I've always had my acoustic Grand Piano adjusted to a light action also, it's fine. It also plays easily when alternating with the RD-700NX. I was prepared to take a compromise on the keys (to save weight and just bring the Stage 3 at 19 kg instead of the RD-700NX/Electro 3 bundle at 34 kg total), but was surprised at how well it plays. It's easy for me to control the dynamics, and I can see from transmitted MIDI data that I can use the entire velocity range with evenly distributed notes and also some close, but not all at, the 1 and 127 values.

So the bottom line: Of all the keys I own/have owned, the Nords have so far been the ones that have caused me the least trouble -- of course hoping that the Stage 3 (which has a really low serial number, part of the first batch) will be free of any hardware trouble :-)

Obviously, the Nord Piano 3 should not have had the mechanical problem it appears to have (at least in the earlier batches). But as Dave points out, it's not entirely uncommon that other manufacturers have problems too. My impression is that Nord appear to handle the issues when presented with it (which here for those of us based in Europe usually means a free repair of manufacturing defects within the first two years) -- as Roland have done to me (but not Yamaha, unlike Dave's experience with the P-120).

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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby NHL99 » 27 Jul 2017, 20:56

Is this issue solved now? From which serial no?
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby bueckert » 01 Aug 2017, 18:37

Serial is before: PD10578. I have looked inside without removing the keybed and the weighted return arm has actually cut right through the felt bed and is hitting the chassis underneath. Solution would be new felt all across action.
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby Premendra » 26 Sep 2017, 14:54

Clavia is now making a free repair of the key beds , new felt ecetera . I have sendt mine to Stocholm via 4Sound in Copenhagen and its of course for free . I am tiered of all those who constantly complaining over Fatar keybeds ? I have treyed all the big brands and I have to say that the keybeds on Nordpiano 3 is among the best I’ll ewer played , in more than one review it’s mentioned as one of the best . So I hope this failure with the felt damping is going to be successful
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby SteveNordP3 » 27 Sep 2017, 04:40

Premendra wrote:Clavia is now making a free repair of the key beds , new felt ecetera . I have sendt mine to Stocholm via 4Sound in Copenhagen and its of course for free . I am tiered of all those who constantly complaining over Fatar keybeds ? I have treyed all the big brands and I have to say that the keybeds on Nordpiano 3 is among the best I’ll ewer played , in more than one review it’s mentioned as one of the best . So I hope this failure with the felt damping is going to be successful


Is this an official action by Clavia? A recall? A goodwill gesture? Could you explain how you got the arrangement to have your P3 corrected? Thanks.
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby OG3playsnord » 08 Oct 2017, 23:41

Here you go. Start to finish took me about 45minutes. Do at your own risk as it will probably void warranty.
I am not responsible for any damage or injury/death resulting from the DIY. I am not a certified tech by any
means, I mod real cars for fun and just like tinkering on stuff. This repair is very is easy to do if you've taken apart
a keyboard or a computer before and hope that it sheds some light to those that have been extremely frustrated
by the dreaded BANGING NOISE..! :crazy: I love my Piano3 and I wanted to share this with all of you.

Here it goes..

Make sure you read the entire DIY before proceeding as you need to mark the location where the strip of
hard felt goes on the inside of the bottom chassis.


I used these tools to speed things up, but the key tools needed are Torx T20, philips head screw driver, fine tip
slotted screw driver (or a fine pick tool), knife, double sided tape, hard felt (EZ felt), marker, ruler and rotary
cutter if you want to be fancy but not needed.

Image

Remove all screws on the end pieces and front panel at the top using your Torx T20.

Image

Take the 2 bottom screw off too.

Image

Image

Pull up the front panel and you will notice the harness is connected. Just undo the 2 clips on both sides with
your thumb and the connector will pull up to release. Remove all the silver T20 screws holding the keybed.
This will be a good time to mark where the strip of hard felt will mount to your bottom chassis.

Image

Undo the connectors.. the thin flat ones just pull out (mark the top one so you know which one goes where
when putting back together), the narrow flat one there is a brown lever you want to pull out first using your
fine slotted screw driver or pick tool.. the one on the bottom of the picture in the L-shaped harness is a little
tricky but pull up while pressing the black clips outward very gently.

Image

Then proceed to remove the T20 screws on the bottom holding the keybed. If you are using the Nord stand like me
you might need to use a philips head screw driver around the legs. No need to remove the legs or remove the
keyboard from the stand; just remove the screws.

Image

Image

Should look like this..

Image

Here is the design flaw of this keybed... the purple circle damper deforms after a while and allows the
arm of the key (pink box) to hit the bottom chassis making the BANGING noise. :thumbdown: It is so bad,
I could make the keybed make the banging noise on the wooden floor.. lol

Image

The goal is to apply 2 layers of the hard felt under the arm like this across the entire keybed which acts as a
damper to prevent the BANGING noise. :thumbup:

Image

To explain, this is the bottom chassis of the keyboard. The pink line shows where the strip of the hard felt is
to be attached using double sided tape across the entire keybed. The orange circle shows the 2 dots I marked
to guide where the felt needs to go. So you'll want to mark your keybed BEFORE removing it off the chassis.
The width I used was 30mm.

Image

Here's the felt being cut 30mm width.

Image

Double sided tape applied to the chassis..

Image

Close up of the hard felt applied to the chassis (2 layers).

Image

Here is the finished picture.. You can see the hard felt under the arm of the hammer.

Image

Then put everything back in reverse order. Test the keyboard and applaud yourself for fixing your keyboard for
no more than $5 and 45min down time. lol :mrgreen: NO MORE BANGING NOISE!
Last edited by OG3playsnord on 10 Oct 2017, 20:18, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby SteveNordP3 » 09 Oct 2017, 01:32

Well that's awesome but there's no way in hell im taking that risk. Is Nord fixing these as a recall or not? A previous poster said Clavia was taking care of it. Are they??
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby OG3playsnord » 10 Oct 2017, 20:20

Yeah, it might look intimidating at first but it is very easy to do. If I was to do it again it will take no more than 15-20min.
The trickiest part was disconnecting the L-shaped harness with the connector that pulls up. The tab is very fragile.
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Re: Nord Piano 3 Key knocking noise

Postby OG3playsnord » 24 Nov 2017, 15:32

I was asked to report back after the repair how things were going.. and happy to say it is a permanent fix. No knocking noise. :thumbup:

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