Nord User Forum

Hi,

It's my first post on this forum so I will say Hello first

I was playing my nord stage ex88 couple of days ago when suddenly the key collapsed and did not want to return to neutral position. It was not stuck, but something was broken for sure. As my warranty has already expired I opened the case, disassembled all required parts and I found out that the plastic pivot (pink one on the image) on which the key is mounted on is broken. I did not push the key hard, so I was really surprised with what happened. I saw many bands using Nord products on stage playing really strong and I thought that they have to be really solid instruments. I used my Nord at home only and occasionally (not too much time to play).
I found a website that sells the pivots http://www.syntaur.com/4797.html, but the issue is that it's really hard to replace that part. I think all the pivots are mounted on a metal bar that holds all the keys and this one is right in the middle of the keyboard. Has anyone had similar issue before and managed to fix it? I hope that it is not required to replace the whole keyboard. Can you please let me know if that is something I can fix at home or do I need to send the piano for professional service?

Hi Piotr,

Welcome to the Forum and sorry that you are having this problem with your Nord.

You are correct that there is a single steel pin which runs the length of the keyboard, skewering all of those pink pivots like one big barbecue shish kebab. This does make the replacement operation somewhat "hairy." The instrument is in a vulnerable state when that pin is removed. If someone bumps it things can become misaligned and you'll have something of a Humpty Dumpty case on your hands.

If you have pro help local to you that might be a good idea. If not... That pin can be devilishly hard to remove and even harder to replace...unless you know the clever trick which makes it much easier: using a small hammer, gently tap the small amount of pin sticking out at one end or the other until it disappears into the keybed. Then attach a drill chuck to the opposite end of the pin and pull the trigger on the drill. It will slide in and out MUCH easier when spinning.

Good luck!!

Bless,

Pablo

Scary!

Thanks a lot Pablo for your hint. The whole description of removing the metal bar going through all the keys was too frightening for me to do it. I drilled a little whole in the pivot (0.8 mm), and in the broken pivot's part and I glued it together with some extra metal support with special cyanoacrylyte glue for plastic - "Starbond". The connection is very strong and seems to work fine. The key response has not changed and it plays the sound without any problems. I hope it will last for years. I will let you know.

Hi Piotr,

I hope you're still following this post. I just got the same "stuck key" problem yesterday. Can you tell me if your key is still working properly before I get into this project? Thanks!

Hi!

I'm also intrested of a "folowing up", because I like the idea but I want to know if it worked good after a time. Thanks!