Creeky And Noisy Keys-I'm Now Considering Opening Up And Modding Them

[Scottym]

I've had my Casio G1 for what must be like 4 months now, and the keys are starting to sound like my old Yamaha DJX which took about 10 years before the same issues arrived. So in that respect the the G1 key bed/ feel is very rapidly becoming really cheap and tacky to be honest. It's mainly the white keys, the black keys are not creaking but they are still noisy as you can hear them hitting the framework with a dull sound like that of a extremely thin pieces of paper covering hard plastic being hit.

 

 I bought a Casio P1 just 2 weeks later than the G1, and currently it's not so far experiencing as the same loose and creaking issues, though that might be because I play the P1 much less often, however the same dead sound of the keys hitting bed as with the G1 still remains which I don't really like. It's a shame Casio didn't put as much effort into the robustness and solidarity of the knob fixing as well like some solid metal housing to protect the PCB should knobs be pulled on the XW's, come to think of it, I'd probably attach metal knobs to the XW G1/P1's instead of the cheap plastic one's, to at least make it gig worthy should I ever take it anywhere..

 

The G1 is a great synth, there are some things technically I wish it could do and I'm surprised Casio didn't bother to allow the G1 to use the sliders easily and properly to allow it to send CC messages to a DAW for example. I can't fix the CC slider issue, but hopefully I can fix the key quality with some modifications.

 

I'll be looking to add some padding of some sort to kill the dead feeling and increasing the rigidity of the keys themselves, and possibly adding some weight to make it feel like a semi weighted keyboard.

 

If you have any sources of information/tips in ways to improve keybed / keys ect then that would be great.

 

Cheers       

[Jokeyman123]

Hello Scottym, I did a mod on the P1 keys awhile back adding more felt in a critical area that stops the hard clunking which was killing my hands. It's posted somewhere here, I forget where so I'll run it through again as briefly as i can.

 

You need to take out all screws from the bottom (not the smaller ones). All are the same size-the center part of the XW comes up and out as one piece (careful because this is almost all the brains and cables). Then there are 2 screws on each side inside attaching the left and right modules. Lifting these out you have access to all the keys from the top which if you want to add felt is all you need. (Remember this voids the warranty) I'm sure the G1 and P1 are put together identically. Each group of keys comes off with screws on top-you need to take each section off carefully-there is alot of some kind of plastic grease in there, pretty messy on mine. Now you can add small strips of piano felt on top of the existing rather thin layer (I purchased felt strips with self-adhesive on the back).

 

You will notice unfortunately that unlike most other keyboard key assemblies, there is no fulcrum point with pivots-the key itself has a small connecting and flexing piece which is integral to its motion-the black keys are the same but shorter so a little sturdier-I can't imagine this will last very long with constant use and i can see no remedy to this.Over time, this flexible part is probably already weakening on your G1. I'm hoping the softer keybed will lessen the shock and maybe give longer life to the keys, but probably not. Be careful you do not put too much felt, as this will cause the key to make poor contact unless you hit it hard. Hope this helps.

[Scottym]

Thanks a lot for the info, I'm not really too worried about the warranty, my firmware is up to date in it anyways, by the time the end of next year comes, the keys will be freaking awful to play I'll imagine so probably better done sooner than later. I've never actually had to return any keyboard before in my life, even though I did buy a cheap second hand Pss 760 Yamaha one 18 years ago that had a dodgy key. Has the mod made any considerable difference or altered since you did it ? I'm not sure where I'll get the material strips and so pictures from your previous thread would probably help myself and probably a lot of others in taking action.

 

Cheers.

[Jokeyman123]

I found at least one e**y vendor that specializes in this type of stuff-for less than 10 bucks I got 2 rolls of the adhesive-backed felt that is still a little on the thin side ut is just the right width or you could get craft store felt, cut it yourself and use double-sided foam tape to attach it-more trouble but I've done this with other keys that needed the same treatment and custom fitting. I actually needed 2 layers to  cushion the keys on the XW-it will not save the weak plastic part of the key that is the fulcrum, but it does prevent the jarring shock at key bottom. Just had it apart again but took no pics, Pretty easy as everything is connected together and if reasonably careful you won't damage anything. All cables are pretty solid and unless you yank hard when taking apart the top it will stay intact and is one modular piece as are the 2 end pieces-one is the iPad pad assembly and the other contains the sequencer and analog controls and that makes up the entire keyboard except of course the base with the keys. If I find time, I will take it apart again and post pics-takes me about 10-15 minutes to get the whole thing apart, just don't want to strip the screw anchors being all plastic and this was also taken apart at Casio to replace the CPU mainboard when I pooched it, so it's seen some action!

[Scottym]

Thanks for the additional info Jokeyman123, I don't use that particular site but I do use amaz**, I found these which look to be thicker than what multiple layers of felt tape would provide and perhaps easier to apply under the keys, http://tinyurl.com/felt-strips do you recon they would be any good for the job ? One side has self adhesive as well and they shouldn't be too difficult to cut and are pretty cheap compared to the felt tape I've found.

 

I actually opened up my old DJX, to see if I could do anything with the dodgy midi connector, it also needs some pretty serious cutting of the plastic frame of it and modified custom front bumper attached but as the Casio's have replaced it, it's more of a hassle (the amount of dust and dog hair in was crazy, I actually had to put my collie x labrador down dog down in 2006, so it was a kinda poignant reminder of him. The Casio's are going to be with me for a long time I think as my old DJX was that I got in 1997. I'll be looking to add some rigidity to the keys to prevent horizontal movement of them also, maybe the pads will help there too without affecting the key action too much. As the knobs are surface mounted to the PCB I'm considering using some metal plate. or large washer rings. Rotary knob wise, further modifications could led lighting ones similar to that of the Novation SL series have, and sliders could be replaced with ones that are more stylish. I don't have an Ipad yet but a mini ipad one could be integrated into it also along with rotary / pads / sliders modules. It would be renamed the Casio XW-G1-EX Professional Controller.

 

One can dream

https://db.tt/DASaz9kH

[Jokeyman123]

This is what i have been using:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Piano-Self-Adhesive-Nameboard-Felt-Scarlet-/120656188497?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c17ab5451

 

it is just about right-comes in black too. Just about the right width and thickness. The item you are looking at might be OK, but there will  be gaps which might fall right where you need the key to be cushioned, why I use the continuous roll type. The felt will go under both the black and white keys in a straight line and there isn't much room underneath (some keyboards have separate rows for the black keys). You need to make sure it isn't too thick, otherwise the keys will not sit far enough at bottom to contact the key sensors, very important and has to be just right. A far as mods, how about the new Studiologic VMK-61 (piano action 61 key!) morphed into the XW, has a full array of sliders and knobs, but pricey for a controller:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Studiologic-VMK-161plus-Controller-Keyboard-Regular-888365005577-/191179833797?pt=US_Other_Pro_Audio&hash=item2c8334c1c5

 

-If we could put that keyboard in the XW.........hmmmm....guess not. I'm still hoping Casio might come up with a modular XW-same control panels, but with the ability to use one of the many controllers such as the Arturias, Soundlogics, etc.that have huge arrays of sliders and knobs. maybe they will.