Keyboard contact springs replacement

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Hi all,
I'm currently repairing a very old electronic piano belonging to a dear friend of mine; the thing has been sitting in his attic for years...

When he brought the unit to me, we tried to switch it on, but a tiny "pop" out of the internal loudspeaker was all we obtained.

Quite obviously, no schematics to be found , so I had to rely solely on my experience and patience.....

I tested the power supply and the internal amp and they both were OK, so I moved to the filters section, nothing there to be found, so I finally removed the keyboard and..... BINGO!

It looks like at some point in time, someone spilled some liquid on the keyboard, the liquid made it to reach the PCB board lying underneath and it corroded the keyboard's DC power rails, together with some contact springs.

( see the attached pic )

By repairing the keyboard's power rail I brought the electronic piano back to life, but the keys whose contact springs have been ruined/corroded obviously don't work ( E2-F2-F#2 ).

Any suggestion on where to get some spare contact springs, or on how to build suitable replacement ones ? The original ones seem to have been wound using Bronze ( the oxide is greenish so I definitely think it to be a copper alloy ).

TIA

Best regards

Bob

[Enzo]

You can polish up the little bus bars the springs hit, but those springs look too far gone.

A number of keybeds used the round springs back when. Seems to me Farfisa used them for their rocker switches even.

Fatar is in Italy aren;t they? Seems to me some of thier older keybeds used the springs. They might direct you to a source.

How many you need?

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Hi Enzo!
Thanks for you fast reply!

Yeah, I remember the old Farfisa organs! Does this mean I'm getting old?

As to the busbar pads and springs, I've already cleaned the pads, but as you've noted already, two of those springs have been irreversibly damaged by the oxide buildup. The third spring ( the rightmost one in the pic ) is only broken at its base, so I think it can be reused.

I'll try to contact Fatar and see if they can direct me to a source.

A couple of thoughts, just in case I don't manage to find a suitable replacement :

1 - I could take the two springs I need from the first and last key ( F0 and F6 ) though I don't like this option much, it has the merit of moving the problem to two "rarely used" keys.

2 - I could build two new springs using a guitar string cut to measure...
I think it might work, though they would be stiffer than the original ones.

Cheers

Bob

[Enzo]

How long are the springs? I have some and might mail you a few.

Any old dead early Ensoniqs around you? if I recall, the piano boards were full of them.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Hi again Enzo!
No, unfortunately no dead Ensoniqs or other KBDS around, I don't do this for a living ( though I'm starting to think about it ) and usually I "work" on ( or I should rather say "I have fun with" ) amps and guitars.

I will measure the springs' length this evening, and I thank you for your kind offer to send me some spare ones, but I really don't want to bother you more than I did already, so I'll keep that as an "extreme resource" in case everything else fails.

Tusen Takk

Cheers

Bob

[jrfrond]

Fatar is now distributed by American Music and Sound in CA, taken over from Music Industries Corp. in NY two years ago. Guess what? I was the Fatar service manager in 93-94 here in NY, and those springs were already disappearing as bubble contacts made their way in 15 years ago. Yeah, there were lots of Farfisa's, Elka's and even MiniMoogs with spring contacts back then. Good friggin' luck finding new springs or trying to get anything from Fatar (now called StudioLogic) in Italy.

You know what works in a pinch? A piece of wound guitar string. Heck, plain strings will work too.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Hi John,
thanks for the tip about using guitar strings cut to measure, being a guitar player, I had the same thought yesterday and your post reassures me about the validity of this solution.

@ Enzo, the springs are about 45 mm. long, the OD is 1 mm and the wire diameter is .15 mm ( my old dial caliper is not that accurate, but the figures should be good enough to give an idea... ), anyway, I have written to Fatar/StudioLogic and hopefully will get an answer soon, if I don't manage to get some help there, I'll do as I said yesterday, taking the two springs I need from the first and last key, and make two new springs out of a guitar string.

Many thanks to both of you!

Cheers

Bob

[jrfrond]

Hi John,
thanks for the tip about using guitar strings cut to measure, being a guitar player, I had the same thought yesterday and your post reassures me about the validity of this solution.

@ Enzo, the springs are about 45 mm. long, the OD is 1 mm and the wire diameter is .15 mm ( my old dial caliper is not that accurate, but the figures should be good enough to give an idea... ), anyway, I have written to Fatar/StudioLogic and hopefully will get an answer soon, if I don't manage to get some help there, I'll do as I said yesterday, taking the two springs I need from the first and last key, and make two new springs out of a guitar string.

Many thanks to both of you!

Cheers

Bob

Robert,

I just noticed that you are a true Paisano in Italy!

Fatar is in Recanati, and you can find their phone number on their website. Call them directly and ask to speak to Dario. He is the owner, and tell him I sent you. The last keybeds made with those springs was back in the early 90's for the Studio 90+ controller. After that, they switched to the TP10 design with bubble contacts. Will they have them? I don't know, but you can try. I just looked in my files and still have the old part#, which is/was 23205230 for the TP10MD+C keybed. The later design was called TP10+GO.CO (Gommini Contacta). Anyway, give this a shot. I hope this helps.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Hi again John!

Thanks for your kind support, I really appreciate it!

I thought you already knew I was Italian....I thought it to be plain for all to see, due to my awful English! ( hope it's getting better, though.... ).

Cheers

Bob

[jrfrond]

Hi again John!

Thanks for your kind support, I really appreciate it!

I thought you already knew I was Italian....I thought it to be plain for all to see, due to my awful English! ( hope it's getting better, though.... ).

Cheers

Bob

Of course I could tell you are Italian. Can you tell that I am???

Don't worry, my Italian should be better too, so non rompare mi coglione! Did I say that right?

Trust me, only a fellow paisano could figure out the stuff with Fatar back in the old days!

[Robert M. Martinelli]