The Kawai & Teisco Analog Synths Group

I completely understand. I'm in Winnipeg Canada and there's not a lot of vintage synth action around here either! I bought my SX240 off of Craigslist from Arizona USA in an unknown condition for only $400. I got lucky that nothing was seriously wrong with it.

I bought myself an oscilloscope and a good meter so I could do my own calibrations and repairs. But my first attempt at serious repair (on an Akai AX80) cost me only $50 in parts, but took two weeks of my free time that could have been spent making music instead. Tough choices... and none are perfect.

James

Sent from my iPhone

On 2012-07-21, at 2:19 PM, "Paulo" <panorphelia1986@...> wrote:

> I'm from Portugal
> 
> Not sure there are many good techs here, as the used synth market here is definitely not that exciting (my Kawai SX240 was the only Kawai SX synth I've ever seen on sale in Portuguese websites...).
> 
> And I think to send it somewhere else, only to Spain it would be "relatively" cheap...
> But if it's likely impossible to fix, not sure if it's a good idea to pay for a tech and shipping costs... :S
> 
> But I'd definitely love to bring it back to life, as the demos I've heard sound really great and it is in pretty nice shape too...
> 
> --- In Kawai-Teisco@yahoogroups.com, w.james.meagher@... wrote:
> >
> > Where are you Paulo?
> > 
> > Sent from my iPhone
> > 
> > On 2012-07-21, at 1:35 PM, "Paulo" <panorphelia1986@...> wrote:
> > 
> > > Thanks for your input :)
> > > 
> > > When I got it I was expecting that to be the problem, but since I needed some SSM2044, thought it would be a good gamble.
> > > But when I opened it, it seemed perfectly clean with no leakage.
> > > 
> > > One thing that I noticed is that some cables are attached to the boards with some kind of glue, not with the typical white terminals (if that's how they are called)...
> > > The seller told me it didn't go to the tech before, so I found that a bit weird...
> > > 
> > > The one part me and the tech didn't look at was the boards with the buttons on the top of the keyboard.
> > > I'm not sure that was wise, as we could see that the keyboard had some problems with the power supply, with voltages weren't as they should at first, but with some cleaning they were in accordance with the tech manual.
> > > Since the tech didn't charge me anything and spent more than an hour looking at the synth (he said to me he doesn't charge anything if he can't repair things), I didn't want to "force" him to look at that board, but I'm not sure if there could actually be a problem with that board that could cause this strange behavior...
> > > 
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > > Best
> > > 
> > > Paulo
> > > 
> > > --- In Kawai-Teisco@yahoogroups.com, w.james.meagher@ wrote:
> > > >
> > > > First thing you must check is if it still has the original Ni-Cad battery in it (left side when open) and if so, if that battery has leaked and destroyed traces on the PCB around it. Either way, get that ticking time-bomb of a battery out of there!
> > > > 
> > > > James
> > > > 
> > > > Sent from my iPhone
> > > > 
> > > > On 2012-07-21, at 12:43 PM, "Paulo" <panorphelia1986@> wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Hi
> > > > > 
> > > > > I got a broken Kawai SX240 a while ago.
> > > > > 
> > > > > As I plugged the synth, I found that the interface doesn't seem to be responding at all.
> > > > > The lights turn on randomly, the buttons don't seem to work, the display shows strange symbols and the keys don't produce any sound.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I took it to a tech (who "unfortunately" is more expert on guitar equipment than keyboards/synths) and after checking the synth with me, he suggested it could be a problem with a proprietary chip of the synth (maybe a corrupt OS chip?).
> > > > > But as he was checking the synth, he unplugged some cables and it seemed like the synth itself works well, so hopefully it is just an interface problem and nothing more.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Anyone had the same problem?
> > > > > And are the proprietary chips on it impossible to find, or it might be possible to repair?
> > > > > 
> > > > > Thanks in advance,
> > > > > Best
> > > > > 
> > > > > Paulo
> > > > > 
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > 
> > >
> >
> 
>