Replacing Nord Electro 2 Key Contacts

[zlapidus]

Hey everyone, I've had my Nord Electro 2 for about 8 years, and over its lifetime, I have sometimes had problems with a couple dead notes, or notes that go to max velocity no matter what.

I solved these by opening up the piano and swapping out a row of bubble contacts -- the notes in question were middle C and D, and I swapped that strip of contacts with the lowest octave -- it only affected low F#, which I used much less frequently than the middle row.

Well, now middle F is gone, a very important note. I've decided that I need to fix this problem for real and buy some bubble contact strips online.

I noticed that Syntaur has rows of "synthesizer bubble contact strips" for 10.95 -- not specifically mentioning the Nord, although they are linked from Nord's page.

And then I see these: http://www.amazon.com/Original-Korg-Key ... tact+strip

Will these do the job? I know they're Korg parts, but they do look an awful lot like the ones in my keyboard. At half the price, I figured it'd be worth inquiring. Anybody know?

Thanks,
Zach

[RedLeo]

You don't need to change the contacts. The symptoms you are describing are almost always due to dirt between the contact strip and the circuit board. You just need to wipe or blow away the dirt at the offending notes. There's plenty of advice in other threads in the forum about this to help you.

[pablomastodon]

Sorry RedLeo, but I have to disagree. In general terms you are correct, but eventually the cleaning job will no longer suffice. There is wear and tear on those carbonized pads on the PCB. When hints of copper start peeking through the black it's toast.

There was a post from someone who described a process of painting those contact pads with some sort of carbon stuff to renew that, but...

The Midi Store has been selling those rubber contact strips for $5 or $6 for a long time, but perhaps their price has gone up?

My take on replacing rubber contacts is that it really makes little sense. There are two mating surfaces to complete those switch closings. Putting brand new rubber on nasty old PCBs may very well yield unsatisfactory results.

AND complete contact assemblies are available, rubber strips pre-mounted on PCBs, for hardly much more money. At ~$50 for a set of rubber or ~$100 for complete assemblies, I'll take complkete assemblies. After all, the OP did say that he's gotten 8 years out of his existing contacts...new contacts will give him another 8 years.

Pablo

P.S. -- In the US those are available through me

[RedLeo]

Thanks Pablo. I hadn't really considered the possiblity of the pads being worn out. You're a lot more familiar with the life cycle of the parts than I am.

[Mr_-G-]

I wonder if any of these (paint, not paste) would work (cheap they are not, but maybe cheaper than replacing the PCB?).
http://www.2spi.com/catalog/spec_prep/cond_paints.php

The platinum paint is... $1750. Ouch!

[pablomastodon]

I'm not sure about those paints, but...

There are four pads per note position, and each one is pretty tiny. Even on a 49-note synth that's 196 little paint jobs; on an 88 that comes to 352. Keeping in mind that this paint is necessarily conductive, EXTREME care would need to be exercised to ensure precision application / not shorting out anything. At only ~$100 for a completely new set of PCBs with new rubber strips pre-mounted, I'd sooner spend the money and save the time and aggravation.

Pablo