Topic by xinaes

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Topic: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

I have a Yamaha CLP-920 and have managed a few times to do some DIY maintenance of a few sticky keys and the like.  When I first got it, there was one key that was completely failing to return without physically lifting.  On other occasions I've managed to get slow keys working better by cleaning any gunk from the sides of the keys, but the returns seem to be diminishing.

At the moment I have a few keys which are still sluggish enough to bother me in my playing and I'm not convinced how effective my attempts to clean and lubricate them are.

I bought a little pot of lube specific to the purpose a while ago and my approach is more-or-less to look at keys that are responding ok and try to apply in a way that mimics that... but I'm often finding that on re-assembling the key it's not much improved.

So; any tips greatly appreciated.

Reply by chasmanian

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Re: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

maybe check out some of these:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CH...mq6D8oQ48c

Reply by xinaes

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Re: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

Yes thanks. Unfortunately none I’ve seen seem to get to the bottom of my current situation, will have another dig I guess.

Reply by xinaes

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Re: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

For what it’s worth I’ve got it playing reasonably ok now I think (I should hold off judgement until I do a bit more playing though). I swapped around some keys so that the frequently used ones that were slow are down in the lowest octave... but now both sets seem to be behaving better. I’m still slightly frustrated that I can’t clearly tell what is making the difference.

I did also notice that a few keys have fractures along a similar place at the back of the key, but it doesn’t seem to particularly impact on their functionality. If I start noticing problems again, gluing them will be a priority.

Reply by chasmanian

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Re: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

I'm wondering how your Key Return Springs are:

scroll down a ways:

https://syntaur.com/yamaha_clp.html

https://syntaur.com/Items.php?Item=KEYSPY

https://syntaur.com/Items.php?Item=KEYSPYX

Reply by xinaes

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Re: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

Thanks for the thought.  There's one particular note that could be a candidate for that, maybe others.  It's possible that at some point my indelicate handling might have worsened that (I didn't mention that I fitted new felts fairly soon after getting the instrument, with some calamitous scenes nearly leading to a game of 88-key pickup).

A few of the others seem to have slight problems where I moved the key to but the new keys in the original positions mostly seem pretty springy.  Certainly something for me to bear in mind, and I think I might soon try swapping that one suspect spring and see how that goes.

Thanks again.

Reply by chasmanian

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Re: Advice on lubricating keys on an old Clavinova?

xinaes wrote:

Thanks for the thought.  There's one particular note that could be a candidate for that, maybe others.  It's possible that at some point my indelicate handling might have worsened that (I didn't mention that I fitted new felts fairly soon after getting the instrument, with some calamitous scenes nearly leading to a game of 88-key pickup).

A few of the others seem to have slight problems where I moved the key to but the new keys in the original positions mostly seem pretty springy.  Certainly something for me to bear in mind, and I think I might soon try swapping that one suspect spring and see how that goes.

Thanks again.


you're very welcome.
I am no expert.
that said, I have had bad springs on a couple Yamahas.
so I would certainly consider it a possibility.