DIY building my Nord Grand into old Grand Piano

[GrandHeinesen]

The wildest project I've done so far!

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I have decided to build my Nord Grand into my old Danish Hornung & Møller grand piano from 1932. The Grand is in mint condition on the outside, but needed a thorough renovation inside, which would cost me around €9000. That's why I wanted to convert from analog to digital/analog. It’s my intention to make the sound board in the grand piano work actively, so that the sound propagates in the grand piano sound board and frame, just like it does when you strike the strings. To achieve a Digital piano with a twist I guess.
I will later post more information and a lot of pictures here in the forum when I'm done.

I am by far not a piano builder, so I therefore contacted a piano builder who has helped me along the way. He has helped me place the Nord Key bed in the grand piano so it fits and has also built the Nord 3 pedal into the existing grand piano damper pedal and other stuff as well.

I have now reached approximately 2/3 and at least what feels like a trillion hours spent into the project, but have come across a few challenges that I hope I can get your help with. Since I have not taken my Nord Grand apart myself, I am in doubt as to how individual parts should be reassembled.

Question 1) My damper/sustain pedal does not work. The jack plug for the Nord damper pedal has been cut off to be able to pull cable up through the original grand piano pedal. I don't know why my grand piano builder has soldered it back on a mini jack (with a jack converter) instead of a normal stereo jack cable, but anyway it doesn't work.

a) Can the jack connector from your original pedal (the one mounted in the sustain connector behind the Nord Grand) be separated so that I can perhaps get a picture from one of you guys of how it should be soldered?

b) Is it a mono or Stereo jack?

c) Maybe send a link to where I can see how it’s done? (I can’t find it on the web)

Question 2)

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There is a plug with a narrow flat cable on it. It sits on the motherboard right next to the connector for the display and key bed. I can't see where the flat cable should be connected, because I can't immediately find a connector that fits on either the display or the keybed.
It must be said that when I switch on the Nord Grand, it says in the display that there is <memory error>. When I then press <EXIT>, there are no immediate errors, everything seems to work.
See picture for illustration – yellow 1.
a) Where should the plug be connected?


3) a) Do you know of a place where I can buy the following extension cables? (see pictures)

Display cable

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Keybed kable

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I greatly appreciate your input and help. Thanks in advance.

Best regards, Martin

[Spider]

Wow, that's some SERIOUS DIY project, congrats!
Congrats for the idea, for the determination to put yourself at it, and most importantly for the courage of tearing apart a brand new 3500€ Nord Grand!
There was a user who repainted a Nord Grand in glossy black laquer, to make it like a grand piano.
Another project I admired, but would never do myself...

Just out of curiosity, what will you be doing with the screen and control panel? Will you integrate them in the front of the piano, or hide them somewhere where they're not too visible?
I have no advice to give you because I don't own a NG, but I hope you can finish your project and that it sounds even better than before!

[maxpiano]

Quite a challenging project, but it can be done! To your questions (as far as I can answer):

1a+b) it is a "stereo" (TRS) jack, because it can accomodate also the Nord Triple Pedal which has a TRS plug; should be a standard female stereo jack type for PCB soldering and same type as Volume one (you can find it easily from online electronics shop, see reply to question 3)

2) not sure but I'd check the keyboard (keybed), maybe the keys calibration memory is what that cable is for and the memory chip could be on the keyboard PCB

3) look for those flat cables on electronic components sellers like Mouser.com (check type and number of pins)

[Hlaalu]

!
There was a user who repainted a Nord Grand in glossy black laquer, to make it like a grand piano.
Another project I admired, but would never do myself...

Not to mention the user who, not long ago, literally cut a Piano 4 down to 61 keys!

[GrandHeinesen]

I opened the Triple Pedal plug, but you can't see much. Instead I recommend to watch some other posts:
post10078.html#p10078
post92501.html#p92501

[M1tsos]

!
There was a user who repainted a Nord Grand in glossy black laquer, to make it like a grand piano.
Another project I admired, but would never do myself...

Not to mention the user who, not long ago, literally cut a Piano 4 down to 61 keys!

Hahhahaha why someone want 61 hammer action?? I still cant understand it…

[Bjosko]

You are a brave man, but clever idea.
I thought about the same with my old Nord Stage and an old upright I had, but gave up because the upright was to beaten up on the outside.
For cables, you might try www.Elextra.dk (Brinck elektronik) or www.Conradelektronik.dk

[GrandHeinesen]

Wow, that's some SERIOUS DIY project, congrats!
Congrats for the idea, for the determination to put yourself at it, and most importantly for the courage of tearing apart a brand new 3500€ Nord Grand!
There was a user who repainted a Nord Grand in glossy black laquer, to make it like a grand piano.
Another project I admired, but would never do myself...

Just out of curiosity, what will you be doing with the screen and control panel? Will you integrate them in the front of the piano, or hide them somewhere where they're not too visible?
I have no advice to give you because I don't own a NG, but I hope you can finish your project and that it sounds even better than before!

Hi Spider,

The display from the NG will be intergrated in the panel just above the key bed lid. Im not all there yet, 2 times paint, lacque and now I need to polish Thanks for the kind words

[GrandHeinesen]

You are a brave man, but clever idea.
I thought about the same with my old Nord Stage and an old upright I had, but gave up because the upright was to beaten up on the outside.
For cables, you might try http://www.Elextra.dk (Brinck elektronik) or http://www.Conradelektronik.dk

Hi Bjosko
I wrote Elektra and will try conradelektronik tomorrw. Thanks for the tip

[be lee vit]

!
There was a user who repainted a Nord Grand in glossy black laquer, to make it like a grand piano.
Another project I admired, but would never do myself...

Not to mention the user who, not long ago, literally cut a Piano 4 down to 61 keys!

Hahhahaha why someone want 61 hammer action?? I still cant understand it…

OT: surely not to play classical music, but for portability; in many pop context 61 keys can be enough and you can more easily carry a smaller/lighter piano on a backpack if you need go to the gig on a bicycle or on foot, for example; in many forums I still see people asking for that and if you think about history, even Fender made a 54 keys Rhodes and the Wurlitzer had 64 keys too (and Roland made the RD64 some years ago)