Advice on buying used Kurzweil PC88

  • Thread starter Thread starter JaydeeMtl
  • Start date Start date
J

JaydeeMtl

New member
Hi Everyone,

New here, great board, great posters. I thought I'd ask on the purchase of older gear. I have a chance of getting my hands on a used Kurzweil PC88 keyboard for Canadian 750.00$. I have not yet seen the board, going to look at it on monday. From where it is, I think it has been used quite a lot for gigging and band practice/rental; so I'll try to cheap the asking price. What would be a fair price, and how much more service life can I expect from it, if its in decent condition ? I know it is discontinued and its at least 15 yrs old, is it still fairly easy to get parts for them, especially the keys & mechanisms ? I'm an electronics techie so I will be doing all the servicing myself but I'd rather continue spending my time to learn how to play the instrument instead of spending all my time servicing the thing ! Any suggestions and feedback welcome. Thanks again :)
 
Seems as though you could get a newer, better KB for that price.







:cool:
 
Hi,

Well, I already have an Akai MPK61 with modified keybed (keys were way way too springy!!), and an Novation SL49-Compact but I need to also practice and play on an 88 key hammer action keyboard that feels like an acoustic piano. Any suggestions on decent models, new or used, for about 1000.00$ CDN ? Thx
 
Well, here we are in december and I am now the proud owner of a near-pristine condition, fully loaded K2500XS :) paid a decent price. Keybed needs a wee bit of work, its getting parts that has me a bit worried, like I may need 1 key weight and a set of rubber contacts (depending on how worn they are, I might just replace all of them even if they play Ok for now). Otherwise this machine is G.R.E.A.T. !!
 
another option is to move the keystrips in the high traffic areas in to the low...that is to say move the middle to either end... and remember alcohol that's damn near 100% and qtips... clean the switch board and the rubber booties...
 
Yep, I'm aware of that, Dementedchord. I just hope that wasn't done already in a previous maintenance by the former former owner (its a 3-rd hand-me-down). The last owner said he had the contacts cleaned before the sale but when I played it, 1 key is at full velocity, another one needs to be played real hard to sound and a few keys surely have worn felts but no sounds like broken keyweights.

J
 
re: full volume and real soft... every key has two swiches... tthey are offset and the first starts a clock counting... the second stops the clock... and velocity data is born.... what you're getting is one that has no start and hence real soft and one with no start so the thing sees it as full tilt...
 
yeah, I have read up on how velocity is achieved in electronic keyboards by using 2 switches. I assume the switch farthest from the player starts the clk and the one closest stops it; also seems the plastic tabs that lower on the switches, one is slightly longer than the other or the pcb assembly is tilted for achieving the same effect. What has me puzzled is the aftertouch ribbon. I have seen it in my Akai MPK61 and by looking at the diagnostics screen of my K2500XS I see aftertouch data generated if I leave my finger pressed hard on the key. Must be a capacitive effect of some sort as there are only 2 layers of conductive material pressing one against the other.

J
 
LOL :)

Well, I've started the maintenance I had to do on the K2500XS, I'm posting over at Toddskin's original 2008 post.

J
 
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