I've asked numerous synth repair guys about this subject, but thought some of you guys might have some tips too.. so here we go.
We've got three old analogues with Pratt-Reid keyboards, the SCI Pro-One being one of them.
I bought 3 new sets of keyboard bushes to refurbish all 3 keyboards & was planning to carefully clean & re-polish the buss bars & j-wires in order to do the job properly.
So, does anyone have any tips for cleaning & polishing Pratt-Reid buss bars & j-wires ?
looking for Pratt-Reid buss bar & J-wire cleaning advise
I have a Prophet 5 with the same keyboard.
When I went to clean and adjust the J bars many of them simply broke off as soon as I bent them even a little bit. On my keyboad they are attached with a dot of solder to the circuit board. The little piece of copper has to flex at this solder joint everytime you push a key down. I guess the metal eventually fatigues at this point.
I play it over MIDI now.
All I can see is be very careful.
Rod
When I went to clean and adjust the J bars many of them simply broke off as soon as I bent them even a little bit. On my keyboad they are attached with a dot of solder to the circuit board. The little piece of copper has to flex at this solder joint everytime you push a key down. I guess the metal eventually fatigues at this point.
I play it over MIDI now.
All I can see is be very careful.
Rod
Hi Rod, luckily I don't have any broken wires, but I can understand why that could happen. The spring coil at the solder joint is stressed into that form then burnished to create the tension. The whole wire was also probably burnished to give it it's straightness & tension in general.
The synth repair guys I've asked about this don't like the job much & use de-oxit with maybe a cotton bud or similar. I know from trying this method that it's very awkward, so that's why I'm asking for more tips or advise.
I've got this concept in my head that to do the job really professionally the buss bars & wires would need to be re-polished after cleaning or de-oxidizing them. I think that's how they were 'finished' originally & would basically prevent them from oxidizing again for a while. Very tricky job though & it's one I've not yet verified as being worthwhile.
The synth repair guys I've asked about this don't like the job much & use de-oxit with maybe a cotton bud or similar. I know from trying this method that it's very awkward, so that's why I'm asking for more tips or advise.
I've got this concept in my head that to do the job really professionally the buss bars & wires would need to be re-polished after cleaning or de-oxidizing them. I think that's how they were 'finished' originally & would basically prevent them from oxidizing again for a while. Very tricky job though & it's one I've not yet verified as being worthwhile.