Yamaha CLP 295-GP intermittent LOUD! note

[?] Subscribe To This Site

Yamaha CLP 295-GP intermittent LOUD! note

by Jane Fleming
(Shell Beach, CA)

I've had a CLP 295-GP for a bit over 2 years.

In the last few months, it has very intermittently (maybe once every day or two) emitted an enormously loud note when I've played the b-flat above middle C. I mean, like MIDI 127.

Usually I play with headphones and the master volume control set at about 2 o'clock. When that note happens, it jars me to the teeth.

Any ideas? I know from experience that it's hard to trouble-shoot anything that's this intermittent...

Jane Fleming
Shell Beach, CA

Comments for
Yamaha CLP 295-GP intermittent LOUD! note

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Aug 19, 2010
Rating

CLP Intermittent Loud Note
by: Alfred

Dear Jane: The most likely cause is a deteriorating rubber underlay Pad. It could be dirt, but I doubt it. Try blowing compressed air (from a can) followed by a strong vacuuming and a tad of talcum powder (applied by a soft small brush) around the perimeter of the offending key.
Accessing the underlay pad requires opening the keyboard which is a job for a QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN. This Forum is not affiliated to Yamaha in any way, but you can choose to contact Yamaha at the following site for their closest repair center...
http://yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Service/ServicerLocator/0,,VNM%3DLIVE,00.html
Good luck and thanks for the visit. Come back with a followup post as to how you fare.

Aug 26, 2010
Rating

progress
by: Jane Fleming

Thanks for the insight, Alfred.

I looked on that Yamaha page. There are two technicians within 100 miles of me.

I spoke with the nearest, and he will come and look at the piano on Monday. His feeling, like yours, is that it could either be dirt or deteriorating underlay.

The problem is getting more frequent, and spread to more notes (so far, seems confined to the octave between middle C and the C above it). Still not reproducible on demand.

Sep 02, 2010
Rating

Success (so far, so good...)
by: Jane Fleming

Success (so far, so good...)

The tech had hoped to be able to get at least one spare rubber underlay thing from Yamaha before making the service call, but they are out of stock.

He took apart the piano. None of the underlays appeared damaged.
These are the newer design which has three contacts per note.
Each key presses on a rubbery "dome". On the underside of the dome are three small carbon pellets embedded into the rubber. Each pellet lines up with a small gold-plated grid on the top of the circuit board. The pellet contacting the circuit board acts as a switch. The pellets reminded me vaguely of the carbon brushes on a DC motor.

He cleaned the contact squares with a q-tip moistened with alcohol. And blew out the rubber domes using a can of dust-off.

Because he didn't have any spare overlays, we decided to swap the troublesome area (middle octave) to another area of the keyboard to see if the problem follows.

But in the past few days, I've had no random LOUD notes.

And as a bonus, the overall regulation of the keyboard seems much improved. I had thought my scales had been sounding uneven but they sound much smoother now.

So I'm thinking of having him clean the keyboard every year as routine service.

Oct 08, 2010
Rating

Helped with my similar problem...
by: Jazzman Hawaii

Thanks. That probably answered my own similar question about my clp123. I only have one loud key and since I already have the keyboard out, I'll try the q-tip thing.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Yamaha CLP Clavinova Keyboards Questions