Cleaning tips.

[Gnomo Alegre]

Hello:

I open this thread so that you leave tips on how clean the instruments. And also so that you leave tips on cleaning materials.

For me it is a very important subject because I live in an environment with a bit of dust. I have to clean every day my CASIO XW-P1.

You don't think in an abandoned house filled with dust. Just a little powder.

 

Thank you.

 

P.S.: and the music equipment maintenance.

[Null]

For about $25 the best possible investment you can make in your equipment is a simple dust cover.

While there are off the shelf models available that will fit generic keyboard sizes I prefer to get mine custom made by a guy named Larry in Chicago who does a really nice job of making custom fitted dust covers for studio equipment.

https://lecover.com/

Plus as a bonus, all of my different keyboard dust covers match each other so they have a nice aesthetic appeal as well.

[Display Name]

What happyrat said - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

For cleaning, I just use a soft cloth VERY lightly damped with water.

 

One other tip that isn't discussed often: Make sure you wash your hands with soap every time before playing. Make sure you rinse and dry well, of course. I'm like a surgeon when I scrub up before playing.   

[Null]

Agreed Scott...

Lave su manos... (Pardon my crappy Spanish )

I'm not quite so anal as to scrub up before every session, but I certainly wouldn't ever touch my keys right after eating chicken wings or ribs

Between a bit of basic hygiene and a good dust cover you should never have to clean your keyboards at all.

Likewise, never bring food or drink to the workstation or allow children to use the keys unwashed and unsupervised and the rig will stay spotless for eternity

Gary

[Display Name]

Likewise, never bring food or drink to the workstation or allow children to use the keys unwashed and unsupervised 

 

 

Yes! My favorite:

Can I play your piano, Uncle Scott?

 

 

 

[Null]

ROFLMAO :D

[Gnomo Alegre]

Hello:
 
When I remove the cotton towel covering synthesizer dust begins to see how it attaches to the synth. Is there any product to repel dust?

I'm very lazy and I do not wash the hands. I use a special suit instead of using gloves of surgeon.

 

 

Thank you.

 

P.S.: Very good Spanish, happyrat1.

[Null]

Actually I think your cotton towel dust cover is really the cause of your problem.

 

Cotton or any other typical woven fabric actually creates dust rather than protects from it.

 

Just snap your towel in front of a window on a sunny day and watch how much dust is floating around in the sunbeam afterwards to get an idea of how much dust it generates.

 

My advice is to spend the lousy $25 and buy a proper, impermeable, nylon dust cover.

 

The cleaner you keep your keys the longer they will last without needing any repair at all.

 

If you keep on building up schmutz and wiping it off, the more likely your keyboard will end up failing after only a few years.

 

Gary

[Brad Saucier]

WHAT!!   No food or drinks?   I thought that was what the black rubber pad was for on the PX5.  I've been setting my Root Beer float there while I practice.  

[Null]

No! No! No!

The root beer floats go into the official Casio cupholder that attaches to the stand.

The black rubber pad is for holding a bowl of nachos and later on your ashtray after dinner and dancing. :D

Gary

[Gnomo Alegre]

Are you crazy?

 

This thread is about cleaning.

[Null]

I think Bing Translator needs a sarcasm tag. :D

[Brad Saucier]

David.  If I spill any Root Beer on the PX5, I'll just clean it off with the water hose outside the house.  <<< ------ SARCASM TAG

[Gnomo Alegre]

SARCASM TAG

 

I do not think so.

How do you clean synthesizers?

 

Thank you very much.

Edited August 14, 2013 by David

[Brad Saucier]

Joking aside,  I had an old Casio keyboard that flooded with muddy salt water from a tidal surge caused by a hurricane.  I cleaned it with a garden water hose inside and out.  I let it dry out for a few weeks and powered it on and it worked.   I wouldn't recommend anyone else do that though.  

 

As far as normal cleaning goes.  Outside of catastrophic floods, my keyboards don't get very dirty.   I just dust them off every few months or so.  Even then they are not really dirty.   

[Null]

 

I do not think so.

How do you clean synthesizers?

Thank you very much.

The simple fact of the matter is that you won't find the answers you are looking for here.

Most people simply don't allow their keyboards to get to such a state of mess that they require cleaning on a regular basis.

Sure we're talking about a piece of plastic here, but it's a piece of plastic worth anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

Frankly, if you can't afford to spend an extra $25 for a dustcover to keep it clean in the first place then there's simply no helping you.

As has been said, the only cleaning solution that is even remotely acceptable is a LIGHTLY moistened lint free cloth if you do manage to spill something sticky on a spot, but if your keyboard gets so dirty, so regularly that you end up cleaning it on a weekly basis then you just have to accept the fact that you're not taking proper care of it to begin with.

Gary

[Joe Gerardi]

For 40 years, I've been using Windex and paper towels to clean my synths...

 

Same for piano keys, except that's been for over 50 years...

 

Same for organ keys.

 

After a while gigging with them, I used to open them up and clean all sorts of bar scrock out of them. Beer, whisky, one even had an old French Fry in it. (Don't ask: I have no idea.)

 

They're tools. They get dirty, then I clean them.

 

..Joe

[Null]

Personally I really wouldn't recommend using ammonia products like Windex to clean a keyboard.

A ) The stuff is caustic and will dull the finish.

B ) The stuff is caustic and if it leaks down into the electronics it will play hell with the circuitry.

[Gnomo Alegre]

#17:

 

What he says must be a joke. In the instructions for the electronic devices they advise against such action. At least in Spain. I have created this post for this reason.

Edited August 15, 2013 by David

[Null]

David >>>  In this case Joe is not joking.  If you are touring with a band and hauling your keyboards from club to club then they are, as he said, simply a tool of the trade and what he describes is acceptable wear and tear.

 

Then again, in that sort of environment, you don't exactly expect your gear to last a lifetime either.  When you're touring, you can probably expect to sink a few hundred or a few thousand dollars a year into repairs and replacements for hardware that gets destroyed on the job.

 

In that case, you simply don't expect an instrument to last a lifetime.

 

The advice that I and others here have been giving apply more to the home user who considers his keyboard to be a lasting investment that will run well for decades to come.

 

Apples and oranges, but not a joke.

 

Then again, I wouldn't lend one of my keyboards to Joe if my life depended on  it :D

 

Gary

 

PS >>> David >>>  I left a reply to your private message.  Just in case you didn't get it, you can still get a dustcover from LeCover for the XW synths even though they're not listed.

 

For about the same price just email the dimensions or phone them up and place a phone order and they will custom make a dustcover to your exact dimensions and they ship worldwide via USPS.

 

My XW-P1 cover was a custom phone order and I received mine here in Canada within about 10 working days for about $25.

[Gnomo Alegre]

Thanks for responding with humor and for sharing your experiences with cleaning. Your wife will be very happy ;-D

I'm looking at the cover for my XW.

[Joe Gerardi]

Actaully, now that I don't tour, I still use Windex. Yes, even on the Kronos and Kurzweil K2500.

 

But to clarify a bit, I didn't clean the wood finishes with Windex, I used either Pledge or, if I was in a snarky mood, I'd use Old English Furniture Polish (the oily one) and watch the roadies slip and slide all over the Hammond C3 trying to find a handhold to move it.

 

But... There's no chance of any getting in the 'boards- I'm not bathing them in Windex, I spray a little on the paper towels and wipe, never spray it on the synth itself. It's worked since my first synth - the Arp 2600 - and I see no reason to change at this late stage of life.

 

..Joe

[Patrick Arend]

Windex, a good Micro Fiber cloth, and an electronic air compressor/blower. I once took apart my old Yamaha psr730 and, discovered after about ten years of smoke filled bar's and using any old cloth's or paper towel's to clean it with, it had a lot of debri build up inside. Also the inside's were a little tacky feeling. After doing some research I learned that most cloth's and any paper towels were adding to the build up, so I switched to soft Micro Fiber cloth's.They leave no debri behind, and their not abrasive, which really help's to prevent paint loss,and those nasty plastic rub's in the synth casing's.   If you go to walmart in the glasses department they have really large Micro Fiber cloth's. Aso use some kind of an electric compressed air machine. The disposable compressed air has gasses that  over time can cause damage to sensitive electronics, and it leaves a sticky residue that build's up over time.

[Null]

I'm just wondering if David ended up ordering a cover from LeCover and whether or not he's received it yet?

[Gnomo Alegre]

Hello:

The order is pending to be done. Are these metric correct?

37 3/8 x 15 1/8 x 4 7/8 inch.