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Well, I do know how to say "no" when I have to, but sometimes I am just a sucker.
A young lady calls me up with some keyboard problem. WHat brand is it I ask. She says that is the problem, they don;t know. She then said the magic words. "I took it to the guy at XXXX Music across town and he didn;t know what it was." Well I can;t stand it, if he doesn't know what to do, I certainly can;t let myself say I don't either.
I used to work at XXXX Music, and the owner's son who runs the place is a fucking nazi prick. I don;t want anything to do with that place. ANy chance to show them up is a treat for me. The guy? I never met their service guy, I wish him no ill. From what I hear he generally knows what he is doing. Sorry he works for a nazi. SO considering that store, it is death politics, but as to the guy, let's call it friendly professional competitive spirit. In fairness he refers repairs my way when his shop can't or won't take a job. And I never hold customers hostage, as much as I hate promoting that store, if it is the best place for some customer's needs, I send them there.
But my story wanders...
The young lady finds my store and lugs this 88-key weighted thing into the shop. Heavy clumsy thing, but she wrangled it onto my table. Girl is sturdier than she looks. Did you bring your power adaptor? "No, I figured you;d have one." SIlly me, of course I have the proper power adaptor for a product no one can identify. Fortunately it wants 12v positive center. GOt it covered.
Plug it in, no display or function, but the speakers do pop a little at power down. SO the system is getting some power.
And what indeed is it? I see an "OSP" logo and SP-40. Nice weighted keybed action. Very basic piano with a few other voices. ANd MIDI. OK, never heard of OSP. But a quick google of OSP SP-40 and there it is. A bit of research and I find OSP is apparently some sort of membership catalog merchandiser. OK, I am guessing this is some Fatar or other Italian keyboard with a house brand on it.
FIlled in the work order and sent the lady on her way.
Just on a whim, I looked up the OSP site and contact them. A note requesting schematics for this unit. Wasn't expecting anything, but email is cheap. Lo and behold, the next day I have an email from them with not one but two schematic sets, and a note that they had two versions over the product run, though the unit is now obsolete model status. No kidding, OSP was there for me. DOn't know who you are OSP, but thanks.
Open the board and it is nothing unusual. A small CPU board and a small power/amplifier board. And in the end cap, a couple small boards for the jacks and such. And ultimately the problem was merely lost connections in the cabling. REseat all connections and the unit works. Pulled the boards anyway to check for cracked solder and such, but all OK. Wound up not needing the schematics, but now I have them.
If the other shop had opened this up and looked, he would have made the repair just as easily. But I don;t know what it is and I don;t have the schematic was enough to stop him. And I was assuming I'd never hear back from the seller, and I was wrong too.
So, can you waste a lot of time on stuff you should never have taken in in the first place? You bet. On the other hand, never assume. I got a quick $60 that XXXX Music will never see.
A young lady calls me up with some keyboard problem. WHat brand is it I ask. She says that is the problem, they don;t know. She then said the magic words. "I took it to the guy at XXXX Music across town and he didn;t know what it was." Well I can;t stand it, if he doesn't know what to do, I certainly can;t let myself say I don't either.
I used to work at XXXX Music, and the owner's son who runs the place is a fucking nazi prick. I don;t want anything to do with that place. ANy chance to show them up is a treat for me. The guy? I never met their service guy, I wish him no ill. From what I hear he generally knows what he is doing. Sorry he works for a nazi. SO considering that store, it is death politics, but as to the guy, let's call it friendly professional competitive spirit. In fairness he refers repairs my way when his shop can't or won't take a job. And I never hold customers hostage, as much as I hate promoting that store, if it is the best place for some customer's needs, I send them there.
But my story wanders...
The young lady finds my store and lugs this 88-key weighted thing into the shop. Heavy clumsy thing, but she wrangled it onto my table. Girl is sturdier than she looks. Did you bring your power adaptor? "No, I figured you;d have one." SIlly me, of course I have the proper power adaptor for a product no one can identify. Fortunately it wants 12v positive center. GOt it covered.
Plug it in, no display or function, but the speakers do pop a little at power down. SO the system is getting some power.
And what indeed is it? I see an "OSP" logo and SP-40. Nice weighted keybed action. Very basic piano with a few other voices. ANd MIDI. OK, never heard of OSP. But a quick google of OSP SP-40 and there it is. A bit of research and I find OSP is apparently some sort of membership catalog merchandiser. OK, I am guessing this is some Fatar or other Italian keyboard with a house brand on it.
FIlled in the work order and sent the lady on her way.
Just on a whim, I looked up the OSP site and contact them. A note requesting schematics for this unit. Wasn't expecting anything, but email is cheap. Lo and behold, the next day I have an email from them with not one but two schematic sets, and a note that they had two versions over the product run, though the unit is now obsolete model status. No kidding, OSP was there for me. DOn't know who you are OSP, but thanks.
Open the board and it is nothing unusual. A small CPU board and a small power/amplifier board. And in the end cap, a couple small boards for the jacks and such. And ultimately the problem was merely lost connections in the cabling. REseat all connections and the unit works. Pulled the boards anyway to check for cracked solder and such, but all OK. Wound up not needing the schematics, but now I have them.
If the other shop had opened this up and looked, he would have made the repair just as easily. But I don;t know what it is and I don;t have the schematic was enough to stop him. And I was assuming I'd never hear back from the seller, and I was wrong too.
So, can you waste a lot of time on stuff you should never have taken in in the first place? You bet. On the other hand, never assume. I got a quick $60 that XXXX Music will never see.
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