Yamaha CS-80 for sale
2005-12-19 by David Rogoff
For sale: Yamaha CS-80, not counting modulars (or it's god-father, the GX-1), the heaviest, most knobs, most fun synthesizer ever built. We're talking 171 knobs! 50 switches! No LCDs, no menus, no MIDI (although you can buy the Kenton MIDI kit for it)! The keyboard is in very good condition. The panel and keyboard are almost like new and the tolex and hardware on the case is in pretty good shape. All the knobs work. It's been in a smoke-free home for at least the last few years, and has no signs of any smoke exposure before that. It has not been moved around or gigged with for at least several years. More details below. I've had a great time bringing serial # 1646 back to good health, but it's time for me to sell it to a new, good home. For better or worse, I'm a much better techie/engineer than musician. I've had my fun, but now that it's all working well, it should be played and used to make great music. And I need to sell it to be able to pay for my next project :^) I've owned/fixed up a few CSs over the years. I got a used CS-60 in 1981, which I had for a couple of years (and modified heavily). I had a CS-80 in 1986, which I fixed up and kept for about three years. I got my last CS-80 in 1995, and only had for a few months (lightening load during a divorce). I keep telling myself not to buy keyboards that weigh more than I do, but the CS-80 is too much fun. I hope by the time (2015?) I feel the urge again, someone will finally make a new keyboard that can rival it. Here's some details about its condition and what I've done to it (there are tons of pictures of the outside and inside during my restoration at http://www.therogoffs.com/cs80): Electronically: To start with, this CS-80 has the second highest serial number I've seen, so it was one of the last ones made. This means, not only that it's not as old as many others, but that it has the last rev of the VCO chips. These are the most stable for tuning and didn't require any modifications for temperature tracking, like Yamaha recommended for earlier units. The tuning wasn't bad when I got it, and since I did a complete tuning on it, it is super accurate over all keys, octaves, and voices. I often have to detune the second voice bank to make sure it's there because the VCOs are dead on. CMOS: As well documented on Old Crow's excellent website (www.cs80.com), the CS-80 had a few design mistakes. Almost all the digital control logic is built using 4000-series CMOS chips. These chips, especially the older ones, could be very sensitive to static and can also fail over time. Luckily, these are still made today. As recommended by Crow, and other CS techs, I have replaced every 4000-series CMOS chip with new ones for many more years of life. In addition, I have put all of the new chips in sockets, so if there is a failure in the future, it will be relatively easy to find and fix. Yamaha also had very few bypass capacitors on the digital boards (none on one!). These caps help keep the power supplies quiet and the parts happy. I've added a bypass caps for almost every single digital chip. In addition, I added larger bypass caps on each board. This work took a lot of $$$ in parts and more rework hours than I can remember, but it's a great insurance policy for the future life of the keyboard. Power supply: Almost every piece of electronic gear, from stereo amps, to synthesizers, use electrolytic capacitors in their power supplies to smooth the AC voltage from the wall socket into nice, smooth DC voltage for the internal circuits. These capacitors have kind of a gel in them that drys out over the years, degrading their performance, until the are non-functional. In old amplifiers, this commonly results in increasing hum. I have removed all of these caps from the power supply and replaced them with new ones. Since modern caps are smaller than their older, same-value parts, I was even able to put larger value caps in some places (larger generally equals better for power supplies caps). I even replaced the caps used in series with the headphone jack. Keys: I removed all the keys and washed them. There's a few really tiny marks, but overall I'd give them an A. They all feel nice too: initial touch (velocity - can control volume, brightness, and pitch bend) and after-touch (polyphonic pressure - can control LFO modulation and speed, volume, and brightness) are working on all keys. As most fans know, the poly aftertouch is one of the keys features of the CS-80. There are very few keyboards that had this (I own two other: a Kurzweil MIDIBoard, and a Roland A-50, which I'm restoring - but neither feel as good as the CS-80). It's such a great and natural feature to be able to play a chord and bring out one note by pressing that key harder. No keyboard has been made with this for many years. I wish someone would bring it back! I've also gone through all the key contacts, cleaning and adjusting, to fix any intermittent triggering on any key. Ribbon: Besides the keyboard, the other great, rare feature on the CS-80, is the ribbon controller. This lets you bend an note up an octave and down infinity to zero! And it's relative, so you can touch it anywhere, and that point becomes the starting point of the bend. It's also great for guitar/violin-like trills: press anywhere with one finger and then tap a trill with another finger. The ribbon works and looks perfect. Cosmetics: Panel: The front panel looks and works great. All knobs, buttons, sliders, and lights are 100% functionally and cosmetically. I went through every single one of the 171 knobs and 50 switches, including all the little ones for the memories. Everything does what it's supposed to. Case/Cover: The cabinet is in good condition. There are a few nicks in the tolex and the chrome hardware isn't perfect, but overall a B+. The case cover is a little rougher, maybe a B-, but who cares since it's not on when you are playing, but it is important to have, to protect the panel and keyboard. I've got the original casters that plug into the case and cover. They are very useful for moving the CS-80 around short distances, but for big moves, you'll want a flight case. I've also replaced many missing washers that an unknown previous owner/technician forgot to put back. Stand: It's got the original Yamaha stand. A couple of the screws to lock it to the CS-80 were missing, so I put together nice replacements (metric #8 bolts!). I also added plastic furniture caps over the metal feet so it wouldn't tear up my wood floor. There's some scratches and a few small nicks, but it looks pretty good - maybe a B/B-. I don't have the fancy carrying bag for the stand and pedals. The stand has a great feature: it lets one person move the CS-80 by himself. Since it locks to the keyboard, you can pretty easily (and I'm not very big) roll the unit onto its casters and then move it, and then lift it back up onto the stand. This is really helpful if there's no one around to help lift it. However, it won't help when you get to a flight of stairs :^) Music Rest: I could never find one of these! However, I got the outline of one and tried to make one out of clear plexiglass. Well, cutting plexiglass is harder than I thought, so it doesn't look that hot, but it's ok, and it works, so it's yours, free with purchase... Misc: It's got the original Yamaha expression pedal, which can control volume or a wah-wah effect. I've got a generic foot switch, which can control sustain and/or portamento. I'm also including a nice, double-sided printout of the owner's manual, from the Yamaha site. I'll also give you a CDROM with all the pictures I've taken of the keyboard and every bit of info I've found on the Internet, including schematics, calibration procedures, theory of operations, and more. Sale info: I wanted to offer this to group members first (sorry if some people, who are on multiple synth group/mailing lists, get duplicate copies of this). I'll keep it open to offers until after New Year's Day. If I don't have a buyer by then, I'll put it on eBay. Bottom line: CS-80 that is better than A+ electronically and about a B/B+ cosmetically. Comes with case/cover, casters, original stand, original expression pedal, generic sustain/portamento pedal, music rest, and re-print of owner's manual. If you want one that looks and works better than new, please see the amazing work that Kent Spong does for RL Music (see http://www.rlmusic.co.uk/mals_site/sale_stock_01.html - near bottom of page), but it's gonna cost you about three times what I'm asking. I'd buy one if I had the money! Speaking of which, I'm looking for offers starting at $3700. I'd prefer, and give priority to, local (Southern California - Irvine) buyers who could come here, check it out in person, and drive it away. As an added incentive, I'll even give it a free tuning (if it ever needs it) after a few months, either at my place, or yours, if reasonably close by. If you need it shipped, you will pay all packing, shipping, and insurance costs. I will have it professional crated and shipped by a company that has experience shipping large musical gear. If you are familiar with a particular company, I will check them out. From some postings I've read, I would estimate it would cost about $500 to ship it to U.K./Europe, but that's just a ball-park estimate. I've been buying/fixing/selling synths over the Internet and through local want-ads for about 25 years now (for fun, not for a living). I have an extensive, great record for deals, including a perfect feedback of over 200 on eBay (http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=david72hq) . I welcome any questions and invite any local buyers to arrange to come by check it out in person. Thanks, David