Yamaha CS80

I guess I should start things here:

Back in 1979 I used to hang out lots at LaSalle Music in West 
Hartford CT.  They had a CS-80 that I would drool over.  One time, 
they were having a demo at my high school (I was a senior) and let me 
bring stuff over to the school.  I had the CS-80 and a large 
Polyfusion modular in my '67 Dodge Dart.  I was really tempting to 
just head for Canada!

The summer after my first year of college, I was fixing keyboards at 
Alex Music in NYC (next to Sam Ash and Manny's) and saving up.  I 
found a used CS-60 down in Greenwich Village.  I picked it up for $1k 
and carried it home on the subway.  I did a few mods to it: First I 
painted the wood and all non-white knobs black, so the whole thing 
was in black and white.  Got that from an interview with Eddie 
Jobson. I put casters on the back, like the CS-80. And, I rewired the 
filter EGs on all 8 voice cards so that Initial Level was fixed at 
zero and the slider controlled Sustain, so it worked like a normal 
ADSR.  This also changed the sound of most of the presets.  I had 
this for a couple of year and then sold it.  My plan was to get two 
CS-60s and wire them together, for much lower cost than a CS-80.  
Didn't happen!

Around 1986 a good friend of mine found a CS-80 for sale in Boston 
(where he lived).  He not only fronted the money, but delivered it to 
me in Albany, NY!  It was in pretty good shape, with all the pedals 
and stand.  Apparently it had been owned by Stevie Wonder.  I had to 
get the service manual and replace a couple of blown op-amps that 
were messing up modulation on a couple of voices.  I sold this a few 
years later (along with a Clavinet, Polymoog (bought for $300 from a 
mall music store in great shape with poly pedals, and a Prophet 10) 
to strip down to a digital piano and before moving to L.A.  The CS-80 
made a great pipe organ: I had a full pedalboard under it driving a 
Micromoog.

L.A. in the early '90s was great for cheap analog.  Only a couple of 
months after moving here I found The Recycler, a great weekly paper 
of ads for used stuff.  I bought an Oberheim 4-voice, with 
programmer, for $200!  It didn't turn on, but a $3 voltage regulator 
fixed it in about an hour.

I bought my last CS-80 back in 1995 in L.A.  It was also in pretty 
good shape with all the parts.  I didn't have that one long.  I was 
trying to reduce mass and be more portable (bought a Chapman Stick) 
going into a divorce.  Back in 1995 I had a hard time getting $1300 
for it!  Times have changed...

Anyway, I've been in withdrawl for almost ten years now.  I mostly 
complain on Analog Heaven and rec.music.makers.synth about the lack 
of polyphonic aftertouch keyboards.  I'm sure this is way more than 
most people want to know, but with CS-80 fanatics, maybe not!

 David