Korg 01W-FD Fixing Sticky Keys

Without Taking the Korg Completely Apart

05/11/07

Korg 01W-FD developed a sticky middle D key.    It would come back, but very slowly.   This bugged me.   In 1994 I had the same problem and took my keyboard to a man in Hialeah Florida name Mr. Johnson who worked out of his home.   He fixed the keyboard for a low price of $40.   I asked him if he wanted more money, but he said no.     I asked him how he did it.   He mentioned putting a drop of oil on each key.   Fast forward to 2007, and now I want to do it on my own.   I found a web site with pictures that explained a complete tear down.   The web site is gone, but here's what you need to know.     Use a needle and some 3&1 oil.   Gravity will make the oil fall down into the key. 

Tools needed, Phillips screwdriver, Hypodermic needle, Shop Light, 3&1 oil, paper towels. 

First step is to take off the screws on the bottom of your keyboard and remove the back plate. 

Get some pillows and a towel because you will put the keyboard upside down, and you don't want to smash your joystick. 

Click on each picture to make it big, then back to return here.  

First picture, a needle loaded with 3&1 oil.  

The back plate is removed (18 screws), the keyboard is laying upside on pillows.   The back side of the keyboard (plug side) is propped up higher than the front where the keys are.   This will let the oil drip into the key area.  The keyboard is at a 30 degree angle with the back higher than the front.  

Remove the screws that hold the after touch strip in place and flip it out of the way.  There are 16 screws, these are thin and longer than the back plate screws.   The touch pad will fall so move it carefully and be sure not to bend the metal strips.  Flip it over upside down until it stays in place like you see in the 3rd picture.    

Here are a couple close ups of where the work is done.  The sides of the keys rub against the black tabs near the bottom of the square box where the opening is.   This is where one drop of oil needs to go.   Gravity will make it fall into place.   You can also wiggle the key side to side to give the oil room to drop.  

I have the needle loaded with oil.  Gently push the plunger until you see a drop form on the end of the needle.   Now dab the end of the needle where you see in the 2nd picture.   It's at the corner of the square where the side of the key rubs against the black tab at the bottom.  It's good to use a shop light so you can see how the white key rubs against the black tab.     Do this on each side of the key.   For the black keys, it's hard to see where the black key meets the black tab, but after you do a few white keys, you'll know where the drop of oil goes.

Lift the keyboard up and gravity will let the oil fall into the key.   Wiggle the key back and forth and add more oil if needed.   The key should loosen up and move freely.

Replace the screws on the after touch strip, be gentle putting it back into place.  Put the back cover on, and replace the screws.

After doing this, all the keys play perfect and bounce back instantly.  

If you would like more info, send me an e-mail, the link is below.  I live in South Florida if you'd like help doing this.   

Here's another web site to check out by Ken Westover.

http://net.indra.com/~cliffcan/01online.htm

 

Getting a good Piano Sound on the Korg 01W-FD

There was a thread in the Yahoo Korg group asking how to get a bright piano sound.   Many people gave suggestions, but a picture is worth a thousand words.  Therefore, I took pictures of a few programs in night shot mode so I could capture the display.   Click each picture to make it big, then back to return here.

There's one answer for everyone, card XCS-3S .    The korg has slots in the back to accept a PCM card.   The cards come in a CD case, and you can see the part numbers.  Who knows, I bet music stores have these lying on the top of a shelf collecting dust.   The card set costed me $180 back in 1992.    One card is the PCM data, the other is programs which go in bank C.  

In this picture are the cards I have.  To the left is the Pop card made by Invision.  This card has Hammond B3 samples on it.   Sounds good but I also have a Hammond XK-2 which sounds much better.

Now, since I can't send you my cards, I have another idea.     There is a MIDI set which has the sounds as if your Korg was set up as a MIDI keyboard.    I actually like the piano sounds and copied the programs from the disk to my regular set in the banks.    The sounds work great when playing the piano by itself, but for a rock band, I use the stock A1 and B1 piano sounds which are louder and cut thru all the noise.   For each program I will have 2 set of pictures. 

Above are 2 sets of MIDI sound A0 Piano.    If you can't read a number in the top picture, try the bottom one.  

Above are 2 sets of MIDI sound A1 Bright Piano.  If you can't read a number in the top picture, try the bottom one.  Look at the effects in the last picture, as you can see, they are 28 - Exciter and 01 - Hall.   Maybe that will help you get that bright piano sound. 

Above are 2 sets of Card sound C81 CloseGrand.   Notice the bank is C, it's from the piano card.   I'm putting these pictures here just to give you an idea of the settings.  Maybe you can use a general piano and set it up the same as the card sound since you won't have the sample from the card.   If you look in the 2nd picture, you'll notice the sound is C00 A.Piano2 which means it's from the card.      Does it sound like a grand piano?    For the most part, yes.  

Hopefully these pictures will help you get that bright piano sound. 

Thanks for reading.  Click Back to exit.

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Email me at skiguy777@bellsouth.net.

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