Fairlight-CMI

> What paint has been used on the music keyboard ? I wish to repair 
> some scratches.

Not sure where you are geographically - but in the UK we have a paint
called 'Hammerite' which gives the tempered / hammered finish
(available in both a spray and tin) - when one of my Series II's was
damaged in shipping a very competent fibreglass technician managed to
repair the monitor shroud and repaint it with black Hammerite - it
looks like new now :-)

> What would the difference in value be if an unsratched music 
> keyboard is compared to a sratched one ? (US dollars)

These machines are now more than 20 years old - so they will have a
few 'knocks' each. I think it's unlikely you'd find one that has *no*
marks - that hasn't been restored in the past!

This wasn't helped by the poor quality of construction originally - so
many Fairlight CMI II and III keyboards I've seen have had the corners
broken off where the MDF couldn't take the abuse of being moved.

One joy of the CMI II and III keyboard is that they're easy to repaint
and restore - if you remove the keyboard top (the MDF / wooden part)
which is about 10 minutes work, sand it down completely, then ask a
friendly car paint shop to prime it (being wood it's needs correct
priming first) and paint with the correct colour it shouldn't cost
more than $100 or so - and it's worth the effort - I have two
beautifully restored keyboards and they look stunning.

If only the original (round ended) key *actions* were so easy to
restore! :-)

As to the effect on value - a few small scratches shouldn't matter -
but if the keyboard needs complete restoration (from an aesthetic
point of view) then I'd reckon on $300 less?  If the action needs work
- less still.

I had to purchase a fully restored keyboard from John Hills of
Synhouse, when a Series II got very badly damaged in transit - this
cost me around $1,000 plus shipping and import duty - and they're
getting hard to find in good condition now.

HTH

Best rgds,


Philip