Technics digital ensemble pianos for sale

Admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:13:50 +0000

Having sorted out a test rig for amplifiers for PR602, PR702, PR902, PR603, PR703, PR903, PR604, PR804, PR1000
I now have a few surplus to requirements.

One of each of PR602, PR902 for sale - each having a properly refurbished and tested amplifier and power supply. Cabinets are in reasonable condition for age. PR902 has some slightly marked keys.
May have stools and instruction books but not sure without a major excavation in my dumping room!

Can arrange viewing here but buyer to collect

Please note that I live near Guildford in Surrey so don't bother to ring if this is too far for you to come.

May consider some sort of guarantee depending on selling price and where you live - i.e. too cheap or too far away means I'm not prepared to give a guarantee. However, I do guarantee that the pianos work properly when they leave me. I am a repairer by trade (most definitely not a sales person) and I'm very fussy that things work as they should!

There's some other stuff I want to sell on another page

Repair specialist for electronic-digital pianos, keyboards, some synths, floppy discs-disks drives

Admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 16:50:20 +0000

For repairs to electronic musical instruments such as digital pianos, keyboards, floppy disc/disk drives, some recent synths and the occasional Yamaha home organ with smoke coming out (in all seriousness!)
Mike Barden - full-time, professional electronic musical instrument repair specialist in central Surrey.
Over 25 years experience ... well, that's all I'm admitting to. Generally far too many years spent dealing with you mad musicians (it takes one to know one!)

WHY DO YOU NEARLY ALWAYS GET MY ANSWERPHONE? Incidentally, it's called an answerphone because it answers the phone. Surely voicemail is when you record a message on cassette and post it ... ??
I can get on with repairs much better if I don't keep stopping to answer the phone. So most of the time I work with the phone unplugged. Also I want you to hear the answerphone message. Hopefully you will then look at this website to see what I don't repair.

Some days I get 30 or 40 messages and there just isn't time to reply to all of these. Many enquiries are about types of product for which I have never been a repairer. So I have started making a list of things I don't repair. The idea is that you don't waste your time calling about things I don't do, and I don't waste my time calling you back to tell you this! So from now I'm not going to be calling back about things I don't repair.

THINGS I DON'T REPAIR - PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE TELEPHONING ME
Guitar amplifiers, P.A. gear, mixers, effects units, DJ gear, lighting etc.
Vintage synthesisers and effects
Organs, Leslies (with very few exceptions) - am now selling all of my spares and service manuals for these covering most models from about 40 makes and over 40 years of production
Fender Rhodes
Wurlitzer ep200 - am selling the reeds I have left and probably my service manuals
Early electric pianos and string machines like Hohner, Crumar, Logan, Eminent - am selling any service notes I have for these too
Celviano - a Casio product, not to be confused with Clavinova (Yamaha) which I do repair
Disklavier
Any make or product (new or old) without readily available spares and service info
Am also selling a Conn Strobotuner which almost certainly has problems as it hasn't been used for 20 years!

THINGS I DO REPAIR
Pianos, keyboards, some of the more recent synths/workstations, FDD units (floppy disc drives)
Only decent makes like Roland, Technics, Korg and Yamaha who are good for parts and service info.
Products less than about 15 to 20 years old - getting parts for older products can be a problem

My contact details are at the bottom of each page

IMPORTANT NOTES REGARDING REPAIRS AND "SERVICING"
Despite what some music shops and other repair centres may have to say,
most electronic musical instruments do NOT need "servicing" they only need attention when they go wrong.
Modern electronic musical instruments do not need regular "servicing" as it is not possible to carry out any "preventative maintenance".
It is a complete waste of money e.g. to have your piano's contacts cleaned or changed if the instrument is playing normally.
As the saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it!"
Also, many of my customers have said that their music shop told them their instrument could no longer be repaired. Most music shops do not carry out repairs so are not really able to advise on this. You would be better advised by someone like myself who is only a repairer because I won't try to sell you a new one.

CAN I FIX IT MYSELF? Well, possibly - but ONLY if you have VERY good mechanical skills
Most people can't do this sort of work but unfortunately some of these people think they can!
Please do not ring to ask for help or advice about doing your own repairs. I am extremely busy with repairs and also with enquiries and bookings for Famous Five Band so do not have time for anything else.

Some general DOs and DON'Ts if you're going to have a go yourself
DON'T RISK KILLING YOURSELF - IF YOUR INSTRUMENT RUNS OFF MAINS VOLTAGE, UNPLUG IT FIRST!!!
Don't use WD40 or any switch cleaner or contact cleaner, contact lubricant etc. (no matter how wonderful they claim to be) as usually this will make any contact problems much worse.
Don't use WD40 or similar for sticking key problems. Possibly short term success but long term disaster!
Don't believe everything you read on the internet (including this, obviously!) There are loads of music forum sites, various blogging sites, DIY fix it sites etc. which between them have huge amounts of information, posts and replies about repairing musical instruments. Although some of this information is useful, unfortunately an awful lot of it is complete rubbish. Very often you find classic examples of the blind leading the blind!
Do be honest with yourself about what you can and can't do. In order to attempt any work on any musical instrument you MUST be the sort of person who is very, very good at taking things apart and putting them back together. If you've "had a go" and get in a mess it will almost certainly cost you more to have it fixed properly afterwards. Even though I'm extremely good at this it will take longer (and therefore cost more) if some well-intentioned owner presents me with a kit of parts - the result of dismantling their machine and being unable to get it back together again - usually having lost various screws, put others back in the wrong places, stripped threads, put long screws where short ones should go and screwed straight through a circuit board! Yes, these things happen all too frequently!
Some people seem to think "I've got a screwdriver - how hard can it be?"
FAQ: telephone calls from keen owners asking how to open their musical instrument.
Reply: "if you can't even work out how to open it then you definitely won't be able to fix it".
It is worth pointing out that getting a copy of the service manual will not magically improve anyone's mechanical ability - but it might give the Frank Spencers of this world enough confidence to "have a go".
A frightening prospect indeed (oooh Betty!) It's also worth noting that a service manual doesn't tell you everything because it was designed for professionals and as such assumes a certain level of prior knowledge and experience which most laymen will not have. No disrespect intended. If you want to "have a go" it's your machine and no-one can stop you but please (a) disconnect the mains so you won't die in the attempt and (b) dismantle things carefully, methodically (take photos, make sketches, make notes as you go) and NEVER go beyond the point where you feel uncertain about being able to reassemble everything perfectly.
Changing a broken key - this sounds really easy but can be an absolute pig of a job, disproportionately time-consuming and occasionally fraught with unforseen perils ... "I changed the key myself but now the note doesn't work any more" is a regular one. If a contact has been bent beyond repair a new contact board is required. If the part is no longer available the instrument is scrap. This is such a stupid waste of a musical instrument! If I had been repairing it the contact would not have been damaged. Stop and think first!!
"I changed the keys ok but now some of the keys don't play at all and I've got this bit of metal and all these extra screws left over" - thankfully doesn't happen that often!
Contact problems - e.g. one or more notes don't play at all or play too loudly. The problem may occur all the time or intermittently. Do not be tempted to use WD40 or any switch cleaners or contact lubricants (no matter how wonderful they claim to be) as this will usually make the problem much worse and end up costing more. If the stuff you've sprayed in there has caused more contact problems and cannot be completely cleaned off you will need new parts. If these are no longer obtainable the instrument is scrap!
Most contacts are graphite and need to be perfectly clean to work properly. I can sell you the proper stuff for cleaning graphite contacts if you feel competent to do the work.
If a group of notes is not playing this might have been caused by a spillage. If you know this to be the case you may be able to claim on your house insurance - see INSURANCE CLAIMS below.
"I had a bit of a job getting the keys out to do the contacts, couldn't quite work out how to get the keys back in but I did it somehow but now quite a few notes don't work" - the chap had accidentally caused unrepairable damage to a flexible circuit board which was no longer available and so his piano had to be scrapped!
There are literally hundreds of disaster stories but very few success stories.
Weird behaviour, locking up, won't turn on properly The problem may be something simple which you can do yourself. Many modern products have an "initialise" or "factory reset" procedure which sometimes can be found on the manufacturer's web site or possibly in your owners book. IF POSSIBLE ALWAYS SAVE YOUR DATA FIRST! The initialise or factory reset may well unscramble the brain of your poor, confused piano/keyboard/organ/drum unit etc. and restore normal operation. Technics PR603, PR703, PR903 usually need work on the Main Board which you are strongly advised not to attempt yourself.
Backup battery low, lost memory Some batteries are easy to get at, some are really tricky, some are soldered in, some aren't. Some instruments lose all their sounds and settings and may need them reloaded from disc, card or external data dump from a computer or data filer. If you've saved any songs or edited any sounds in your machine it's always advisable to make backups on a regular basis because one day your battery will give out ... and then it's too late!

SPARE PARTS - if you think you can do it yourself I may be able to supply the parts you need.
Service manuals, Owners manuals - I may be able to supply these too.

IS IT WORTH FIXING? It's usually cheaper to repair something than to replace it - but it might not be replaceable because it's no longer in production. If you like your old piano, organ or keyboard it's probably a better bet to have it repaired rather than trying to find another one for sale. At least you know the history of the one you own. Someone else's might have spent its life under a bird cage, be full of dog hair or had a drink spilt in it. Now that many home organs appear to be almost worthless (if eBay is anything to go by) only each owner can say if they think their instrument is worth repairing.

INSURANCE CLAIMS It is very unlikely that you are insured for cost of repairs when something just goes wrong. However your house contents insurance possibly covers your musical instrument for accidental damage e.g. spillages, fire, theft, vandalism, cat/dog/parrot attack or whatever on a replacement as new basis. This probably won't be possible if you bought the instrument second hand.
Don't assume you are insured - ring up your insurance company and find out. First check what the full retail price was when it was new and what it would cost to replace it with a similar new product (ask your music shop or the distributor). Then ring your insurers, tell them that you have a musical instrument worth £xxxx, ask what eventualities it's covered for and ask if it's covered on a replacement as new basis. It is quite likely that the new replacement cost of your piano, organ etc. is more than the "single item limit" on your insurance. In this case your insurance company will need to list it as a specified item valued at £xxxx. Depending on your insurance company this might not cost you any more than your time and telephone calls. Then at least if the instrument suffers accidental damage you know that it's covered by insurance. Re-check this if you ever change your insurance company as they do not all operate in the same way.

MUSICAL STUFF
I play bass guitar in an excellent and very busy function band, play piano at home and occasionally play keyboards or bass as a dep for a couple of other bands.
The band's web site is at www.famousfiveband.com and the gig list is usually bang up to date.

this is the NEW web server

Digital piano repairs, keyboard repairs

Technics digital ensemble pianos for sale

Repair specialist for electronic-digital pianos, keyboards, some synths, floppy discs-disks drives