CT-X700 Teardown from Youtube

[Casiokid]

 

[Jokeyman123]

This guy is a riot. I never saw anybody this enthusiastic about taking apart a keyboard-this is an excellent tutorial though and clearly demonstrates...

 

1) you better know what you are doing when you mess with this stuff (notice his bank of very sophisticated test equipment at the beginning of this video)

2) It isn't too difficult working on an instrument that isn't broken but repeating 1) very easy to break one that works

3) How to ruin your warranty and FINALLY..

4) It is alot easier playing one than it is repairing one (IMO) leave it to Casio to repair stuff unless you are desperate and/or have no warranty-Ive never done my mods or repairs on any of my Casios that were under warranty.

 

Ironic that he likes the keyboard, but points out the cheapness of the manufacture-"NOICE! Definitely straight out of the 1980s ", Look! old school wiring!"

LOL THIS MADE MY DAY-I do need to get out more  (it does look a little like the insides of my old Cz's)

 

Not criticizing, I really enjoyed this-it shows how the contacts are designed for the keys, shows how the keys are designed and this looks identical the XW-P1 key design for people who might need to repair or (god help you) do what I've done to mod the felt. If only the bigger boards had such easy access to the felt strips inside-so responsible for the clunky key sound in some piano-action boards after playing for awhile, not just Casio.

 

So this is a real plus in the design of the CTX, I'm wondering if the other CTX models are similar. Thanks for posting Casiokid, always can use a refresher.

 

 

 

[Vorbis]

After fixing the sticking key I had on my WK7500, it looks like the keys, the contacts and cables are the same on this CTX.   No surprise here.  The parts supplier I had listed as a source for repair parts in the posting under Bad Key for the CTK 6XXX,  many of the Casio keyboards share common parts between them.  The website for Casio parts lists various parts and what different model keyboard that the part fits.     

 

http://www.pacparts.com

 

I'm glad he didn't tear down my old Hammond A100, he would have seen the whole organ was hand wired!    Not sure what years he would have dated that construction method but the organ is still working since 1964.

 

WK7500

CTK900

 

 

[vbdx66]

I wonder whether he put everything in order again after the tear down... I don’t like the idea of any music instrument being put into pieces 

[Jokeyman123]

Hii Vorbis-my friend Artie had his Hammond B-3 in pristine condition with a Leslie 122 in his living room after he stopped playing in clubs, and there was only one technician on the entire East Coast that could work on it without ruining it. Goff electronics I think they were. Was a few yeas ago though. I had the privilege of working with many Hammond players as a drummer back when-and all the technical problems that went with it. The A-100-how was that different than the B and C series-I think it had a smaller cabinet but was still a douvble-manual?

[Vorbis]

Hi JM, 

 

The A100 is an identical organ to the B-3  C-3.   All of them use the same 44 note manuals, the identical tone generators along with the 4 sets of drawbars, the same percusion, same tube driven preamps and vibrato scanners.    The B-3 has no amplifiers or speakers and that famous open cabinet.   The C-3 is the model for commercial / institutional venues and has a self contained amplifiers and speakers along with a full and enclosed cabinet with a finished back and a locking top.   The A100 is the home version of the C-3.  All 3 of these need a Leslie Speaker to get the sound that everyone can identify and the Leslie interface was an option.   In fact the older they are, the more growl they have and are more sought after.  The growl is usually from aging electronics in the preamp with capacitors getting noisy etc etc.   Gives the organ character.

 

Savvy Hammond buyers seek out the A100's because they are cheaper than a B-3 and have the same guts.   My A100 has the amplifiers and speakers gutted since they were are all of 18 watt output.    On my Leslie, the stock amp has gone to the electronic graveyard and a 200 watt powerhead has taken it's place.   I was tired of getting walked on.   The speakers have been replaced with HD components to handle the 200 watts.   My Hammond was used in a church in PA and then on a cruise boat on Lake Erie so it was really used.   Other than a broken sharp key and lots of dents, it worked fine.   It was a PIA to clean the drawbar contacts when a drink got spilled on the organ.   I had sampled and dumped the WAV samples into my CTK900 Casio and guess what, it sounds like my old Hammond.   No drawbars of course.    The Hammond now is enjoying retirement.

 

Goff is the famous Hammond go to expert that many of the pro players use.   Goff had modified ELP's Kieth Emerson's Hammond to incorporate MIDI in the C-3 that Emerson used.   Most of the Hammonds I've seen with Goff's name on the sides are cut or custom cabinets and beefed up to go on tour.   Not too many electronic technicians can work on Hammonds nowadays with a ladder wiring diagram and vacuum tubes.

 

Josh

 

CTK900

Wk7500

[oscar1]

I've been inside few of the modern cheap casios and yamahas and they are made a way that it is incredibly hard to break them by your fault. As seen on the video the X700 brain is really tiny and the big brown PCB is just for amp and places for buttons to have contacts. They can make the ct-x no bigger than the keyboard itself if they want to.

[mike71]

'80 stule in cabling i think is a compliment, from the hacker or the repairman point of view. Because the lower integration, the lower automation on building electronics components, so things are more human accessible and there wasn't RoHS idiocy it's more easy to access it. On the other hand you can find a depleted battery that leaked over the PCB, ot the dreaded yellow glue and have unreliable operation due aging components.

I think if one has an old synth if it will move it to gigging or in a recording studio, especially if it's a rare one. Even an FZ-1 or a CZ-3000. Moving old gear could be problematic and making cables insige coming loose, and replacing them is difficult.

 

 

 

 

[Jokeyman123]

We carried Robbie our Hammond guy back in the 60s with 2 Leslies, a C3 and a B3-good thing we were young with good back muscles-and an organ dolly-in my old long van, what an ordeal! He chopped the legs off the C3 to be able to fit it in with all our other gear-but sounded fantastic in the right club. He also experimented with ring modulation and other effects-had the note-bending thing, forget what it was. he was copying Keith Emerson back then. Volume wise too, it's a miracle at my age I am not deaf! Thanks Vorbis. 

[Jokeyman123]

For those of you wondering-the inside of the CTX keybed looks almost identical to the XW-P1-not sure if all the keys are drop-in replaceable across the models,  but notice how the screws hold in the backs of the keys-these are often the culprits in these keyboards if your keys are suddenly not feeling right. A little loctite on the threads and tightening these back down often solves this relatively minor problem with the key action. 

[Vorbis]

17 hours ago, Jokeyman123 said:

We carried Robbie our Hammond guy back in the 60s with 2 Leslies, a C3 and a B3-good thing we were young with good back muscles-and an organ dolly-in my old long van, what an ordeal! He chopped the legs off the C3 to be able to fit it in with all our other gear-but sounded fantastic in the right club. He also experimented with ring modulation and other effects-had the note-bending thing, forget what it was. he was copying Keith Emerson back then. Volume wise too, it's a miracle at my age I am not deaf! Thanks Vorbis. 

 

Kieth Emerson was rumored to use the Moog to post process the output of the organ and to use MIDI to create some unique sounds.    Of course when in the studio, lots of magic is created. 

 

 I think my tinnitus is a direct result of the band days.   Now I use ear plugs even when going to where DJ;s are playing.   

[Jokeyman123]

I can relate to that. I started with earplugs in the 90s with my last band, the "Little Darlings" kind of a takeoff on the "Young Rascals" from NJ. As their keyboard player/arranger (we did everything from doo-wop to 80s rock -Motown etc I had to do alot of horn, string hooks and leads plus all the organ and piano parts to a repertoire of around 400 songs, Beatles, Beach Boys, through to all the usual bar band songs)-I needed the earplugs because I noticed my hearing was getting very sensitive to loud sounds, and it helped me monitor what the 6 of us were playing/singing-I could hear the balance better since it cut down the volume enough especially in small venues where it could really hurt. I get occasional tinnitus but I'm very careful now-thus my pickiness with headphones, speaker systems etc. The loudness of music back in the 60s was insane. I met Eddie Offord recording n "Bearsville" studios in Woodstock in 1972-he was recording Robbie's band in one of the huge barns they were converting to one of the recording arenas there, and the amps were stacked at least 15 feet almost up to the gangways above the main floor. They were playing so loud, I couldn't stay in there longer than about 15 minutes. Boy were we stupid back then! My brother played his bass so loud at a venue in the Long Pond Inn in Greenwood Lake, NJ-a real hotspot back in the 60s with big-name bands playing there-I remember Santana and Leslie West played there when we were there-My brother Jon had 2 Traynor bass cabinets with 6 12"s in each-I was directly in front of-it was so loud I got sick to my stomach during rehearsal and the stage was just big enough to fit our "Blue Angel" rock band plus Robbie's 2 Leslie cabinets and my double bass drums-whew crazy stuff! No wonder I'm a little cuckoo-but in a good way!

[Vorbis]

I see a lot of bands today with a sound man and his mixer board.    They whip out their sound meter and crank till it is red zoning.    I asked one of them if he could hear the "cone cry" that was distorting what was a good sounding band?     Max SPL is what they want he tells me.     Sounded terrible I left the place.   Ted N  here makes a good point however,  most people listening to live don't care about sound quality.   

[Keyboard man]

Anyone know if it is possible to get a replacement for the rubber button for the sound controller??

[Brad Saucier]

8 hours ago, Keyboard man said:

Anyone know if it is possible to get a replacement for the rubber button for the sound controller??

 

Try pacparts website.

[ConfusedRedditor16]

Man is that guy excited doing this.

This is a little offtopic but the guy's accent, what is it?

 

[Jokeyman123]

Hey confused-he sounds like "down under" from Australia. One other thing I noticed in reviewing his dissection-I do not like how close all that nice white grease is to the rubber contact strips. You get some of that melting on a hot day off the keyposts onto the IC boards-it will seep under the rubber nipples-and destroy the carbon underneath. Be careful to keep that studd away from the carbon under the rubber. in myexperience-once this carbon is conaminated-it is very hard to clean-the carbon absorbs apparently-anything it touches-and ruins its rather delicate conductive properties. I winced when he lifted the rubber boots for giggles-as once you do this, it can also do bad things to your contacts inside-I never take these off unless I am absolutely certain I need to-once you break the seal-it is all too easy to get dust in there, and you must re-instal those rubber boots completely flat as they were. some keys I've repaired even has these glued down to the IC board-I think it was a Roland or an Edirol that was like this, I was never able to get the keys to work right after that.