PX-S3000 noisier keys over time

[kmfnz]

I'm having the exact same issue. The retailer sent my PX-S3000 to the distributor when mine was sounding like kybdsammer's video. It came back with traces of lubricant on the top and down the sides of all the black keys. It fixed the problem for about two weeks before several black keys started to make the same clacking noise again.

 

I sent it back to the retailer a second time, and they told me they now can't find any issue and there's nothing they can do (I suspect they didn't inspect it under the hood, they just played it – possibly in a noisy environment where it was difficult to hear the problem). I even labeled the keys that were problematic for its second repair.

 

Now I'm not sure what to do.

[badgenes]

Glad I saw this post, I am considering purchasing a PX-S3000.  How bad is the issue when playing?  Is it loud enough to be distracting?  And does it change the tactile feel of the keys affected?

 

thanks and hope you get some resolution.

[Jokeyman123]

If its still covered by your Casio warranty-get in touch with Casio directly-distributors and retailers may be just throwing a band-aid on this-doesn't sound like a Casio authorized repair tech did this. I could be wrong.

[kybdsammer]

I am still waiting for the keyboard assembly to arrive before I can take it in for warranty repair.  My original video was recorded without turning the keyboard on, so the noise is much more noticeable.  If I play through the built-in speakers with sounds, it is less noticeable but still there.  I usually use headphones or earbuds so it does not bother me much.  The tactile feel of the keys is mostly the same to me.  I still enjoy playing it every day (even above all my other keyboards since the sound quality is so good). 

[Trooplewis]

I hope that when it gets fixed Casio explains what caused the problem and if it will be happening to every PX-S keyboard or if there were just a few that something was missed during the mfg process.

[kybdsammer]

Good news is the warranty keyboard assembly finally arrived at the repair shop.  I plan to drop off my keyboard there and hopefully get it repaired within the next couple of weeks.

[kybdsammer]

More good news.  I got the day off today, drove a couple of hours to the shop, and they fixed it in a couple of hours!  Now I feel like I have a brand new keyboard again.

[David Pansini]

I have the same issue, but just on a few keys. Nothing like you have (or had). The few keys that do click is annoying. Can't imagine what you went through and how disappointed you must have been. Really hope it works out for you, and me. 

Casio was not my first choice in digital keys. Actually, it was on the bottom of my list. I had my eyes on keyboards around in the $1,500-2K price range. Because I'm really a guitarist/vocalist posing as a pianist,  I figured it would make more sense to get a less expensive piano and see where it takes me. 

I love the look of the Casio 3K, and it has a ton of features, like battery powered. but, in the back of my mind, I still see Casio as a "toy" compared to Yamaha, Korg, Roland, etc.

I enjoy the Casio, but when I read posts like this, I wonder if I made a mistake. Not to say the other manufactures don't have their issues, they do, but when I hit one of those keys that click, It ruins the enjoyment of playing. This is my 2nd Casio 3000, had to return the first one for "Loud Keys". My new Casio is about 9 months old, so will it get worse as it gets older? 

I could sell the Casio before it does get worse and go back to my old Yamaha P-85. Not what I really want to do, but I'm concerned, as this is my second Casio with keyboard issues.

 

Keep us posted. I very curious to see how it works out for you.

Thanks for posting

[kybdsammer]

Yes, I will do.  I am hoping there was a fix on my new keyboard assembly that prevents the noise from happening again.  Since this does not seem to be an isolated incident, I am hoping Casio will look into this and provide a permanent fix if not already.  I plan to send an email to Casio to ask about this.  If there is a long term fix, I am sure many owners will appreciate it and be able to enjoy their keyboards for many years to come.

[anba]

I'm glad I found this thread. I have the exact same problem as described by others. I got my PX-S3000 on 1/11/2021 and just about 4 weeks later after using it for maybe an hour or so a day I go this clicking noise. So not a lot of use and already the clicking.  I'm in contact with the dealer. As @kybdsammer said, this doesn't seem to be an isolated issue and may even point to a problem in their redesign. Please see video.

 

[kybdsammer]

@anba:  Sorry to hear you are having a noise issue too.  I sent an email to the person at Casio that helped with shipping the replacement keyboard assembly to me back in October 2020 to ask if there was a fix for this issue, but I never received a response.  He may only be involved with service issues and may not know about design changes or improvements.  In light of your experience, I hope mine does not develop it again.  So far it has been working great after the replacement, and it has been about 3.5 months with no issues.  I hope you are able to get it resolved soon.

[David Pansini]

Anba,

If you've only had the Casio for a month, can't you return it?

My PX-S3000 is just about a year and i'm thinking about selling it. My keys aren't as bad as others. I have only three keys that click like yours. I want to sit at my piano and enjoy every note. As it is, I sit and deliberately try to avoid those clicky keys. That's no way to play. I guess you get what you paid for. The PX-S3000/1000 is half the price of other keyboards with similar features. But I would rather pay double and love every moment playing than to save money for something that distracts me from playing.

 

And there's one other thing that bothers me. I don't know if anyone has experienced this. I find the onboard speaker sound metallic. Doesn't sound natural. I have three PA systems and I can't get the Casio to sound good on any one of them. I find this very strange because the Casio sounds amazing through headphones. I would think, connecting it to a Soundcraft mixer feeding two, 15 inch Celestion speakers, that it would sound just as amazing. 

 

Despite these two issues, I use the Casio almost everyday. Somedays for hours. I use it for recording, writing and to just get better at piano. Most times I'm connected it to a mixer so i can sing and play through headphones. So I don't always hear those annoying keys. And again, the Casio does sound very good through headphones. 

 

I would like to have a piano with a quieter, better key bed and sounds better in a live environment.

 

I wish you luck. 

[Casiofun]

You might pay double or more but not necessarily escape noisy keys. Over time they all get noisy. They have weighted hammers striking felt that eventually compresses. Remember also that noise is amplified through a plastic case which all slab pianos have. Good Luck.

[David Pansini]

Casiofun, yes I agree. I have a 12 year old Yamaha P-85. The keys have become louder. That was one reason for upgrading to the Casio. But there is a difference between what you're talking about and the clicking sound that some of us are experiencing. And we're experiencing this within the first year of purchase. I'm a guitarist also. If I bought a new guitar and one of the strings had a slight buzzing on the frets (not something a simple neck adjustment would cure), I would be disappointed. All Guitars need fret work overtime, but a string buzzing within a year would be bad.

Again, my issue is not as bad as some others on this post, but it is annoying. If the clicking were to get worse, I would not be able to play the Casio.

When I was researching digital pianos, all, Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, etc, all had some issue. The Casio, at half the price, seemed like a no brainer. But I wonder if the other pianos larger form factor house a better keyboard? Most review I've read, say yes, but at half the price, Casio isn't too bad. 

I've been a Guitarist and Vocalist for 50+ years. I've played a little piano off and on over that time also. Now, I'm attempting to play more piano. The Casio so far has been a good piano to practice on. I know when I get to the level I'm aiming for, I will sell the Casio and get a higher quality digital piano. If the keys clickyness gets worse, I will have to take a loss and buy something else. And as I stated in my last post, I can't get the same sound though a PA that I get through headphones. That will be a problem when I play live. The Yamaha P-85 sounds just as good with headphones and going through my PA, not sure why the Casio doesn't?

To conclude, I do agree that the keys will get louder over time. But the clicky keys is a defect. I just hope my keys clickyness don't get worse.

[Jokeyman123]

OK, I have to weigh in on this-prefaced by that this is one Casio i do not have. I do have a PX575-wonderful quiet keybed-as quiet as any of my Fatar keybeds in my "pro" boards that cost alot more than any of my Casios. I also own and play regularly-the PX350 and PX560. And the XW-P1.

 

So...after listening to Anba's audio mp4, this is definitely not the way a typical Casio Privia should sound-none of mine ever sounded like this-maybe a little noisy, but again no noisier than any of my much heavier weighted 88-key monsters. I have very sensitive hearing-I modded my PX350 with extra felt-it is now quieter than any of my more expensive Fatars and my 560 is not too far behind. I don't want to compare brands, but Fatar makes the 88-key actions for-well almost everybody including Nord, some Korgs, Kurzweil and several others, so the comparison is a fair one. I describe this because there is no question-whatever is happening inside these 3000's must be a defect of some kind-I diagnose (like auto mechanics sometimes do) by sound. I hear keyboard hammers almost directly striking plastic-this can only mean that either someone at the factory did not install the felt used as shock absorbers and noise-cancelling properly and it came apart inside, or perhaps-they forgot to assemble it at all. It sounds like there is no felt buffer strips in there at all, at least from Alba's audio recording. I have studied the internals of the PX3000 and many other Casios-there is no way this is designed to sound like this. I would definitely make sure Casio repair fixes this, I'm sure they can.

 

If anything-from my technician's point of view-it looks like the felt strips in the newest Casios are a little thicker than mine-and are surely at least as quiet-and don't call me Shirley! Well, back to my workshop if I can find it in this snow....

[David Pansini]

Jockeyman123. Thanks for the input. I agree that what we're hearing is plastic on plastic. I'll take your expert diagnosis that it's the felt. You can see my video above, but it's the same issue. And I don't have it as bad as others. I will contact Casio Monday. I bought my PXS300 in early March of 2020. It was a Demo that I returned due to loud keys. Sweetwater shipped me a brand new one. So I'm hoping this is covered under the warrantee. It's just going to be a pain to box it, ship it, wait several weeks for the repair. 

Thanks

 

[Jokeyman123]

You're welcome. 

[anba]

Thanks for all the comments. Sweetwater offered a replacement and I’m inclined to take it. The only concern I have is that l might have the same problem again down the road. I also asked Mike Martin from Casio about this issue and he assured me that this is a “rare” problem compared to the number of keyboards they have sold. I sure hope that that’s the case and not something that is inherit in the redesign of the keyboard itself. We’ll see.

[David Pansini]

I contacted Casio and they suggested I take the Piano to an authorized repair shop. Last weekend I did just that. The shop told me it would take about 25 days before they'll have a chance to get it up on the bench to look at it. Because the Casio is just under a year old, it's covered by the warrantee. 

Let's see what happens. I'll update when I hear from the shop.

Stay tuned!

 

[David Pansini]

Got the PX-S3000 back yesterday. The shop confirmed there was and issue and had to replace the entire key bed. I think that because it was still under warrantee the shop just ordered a new key bed. I was able to set it up last night and play for a bit. No issues. I would hope not seeing as it's a new key bed. 

The real test will be how the keys behave over the following year. Will the keys get clicky like the original? Time will tell.

So for those in this group having the same issue and your PX-S3K is still under warrantee, bring it in and have an authorized tech look at it. 

If I remember, I'll post in a year to let you know how it's going.

Good luck

 

David

[Jokeyman123]

Or post back sooner and let me know if the new keybed is holding up. Stuff happens in the factory that shouldn't. I have an Alesis 8HD I've recently restored-with a Fatar TP40 weighted keyboard which has given me some puzzling issues-until I took it apart (alot of work) and discovered-the tiny springs that help the action to work-are not there!!!! and I've studied this assembly in detail-they're supposed to be. someone at the Fatar factory must have been drinking a little too much vino before they came to work that day!!!!! Try to find someone who can fix that.....I will, trying to engineer installing springs myself-should only take about a week-if i have absolutely nothing else to do including sleep, which I do!!!!

[kybdsammer]

10 hours ago, David Pansini said:

Got the PX-S3000 back yesterday. The shop confirmed there was and issue and had to replace the entire key bed. I think that because it was still under warrantee the shop just ordered a new key bed. I was able to set it up last night and play for a bit. No issues. I would hope not seeing as it's a new key bed. 

The real test will be how the keys behave over the following year. Will the keys get clicky like the original? Time will tell.

So for those in this group having the same issue and your PX-S3K is still under warrantee, bring it in and have an authorized tech look at it. 

If I remember, I'll post in a year to let you know how it's going.

Good luck

 

David

 

That's great you got it replaced.  My replaced keyboard assembly is now at 5 months and still working great with no issues.

[David Pansini]

Jokeyman123 I'll try to post sooner with an update. Good Luck on your project.

 

Kybdsammer, that's good news. Just what I'm hoping for. No more key issues.

 

Thanks

[David Pansini]

It's been two weeks and the piano is great. The keys feel and sound really good. I'm actually enjoying the Casio more. Lets see how this goes in a few months. I'm confident it's going to be just fine.

 

[Dorian Ghost]

I've had my Px s1000 for a little over a year now and I'm quite pleased with it but it now has this same click sound on only one key. I play it more than three hours a day.  I would like to know if there is a repair for this as there is no authorized/qualified repair shop in my country. It would be just as expensive to buy a new piano if I have to replace the keybed.  I'm pretty sure if I could get the parts I could fix it. I know that these things all wear out with time but it would certainly sour me to Casio Pianos if I had to buy a new one after only a year.