I picked up a cheap old keyboard today, a Yamaha PortaSound. When powered on it immediately made a continuous tone, and had two unresponsive keys (one of which corresponded to the note of the tone). Although I know nothing about electronics, I took it apart to see if there was anything obviously gunked up that I could clean.
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Sure enough, the relevant contacts looked corroded.
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A guide I Googled recommended 90% isopropyl alcohol to clean with. The best thing I could find was my girlfriend's flatmate's nail polish remover...
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Since cleaning up the contacts as best I could, the keyboard functions properly, but the dead keys haven't come to life. The contacts appear quite damaged – removing the blue-green gunk revealed a bronze surface (not obvious in the picture), rather than the black visible elsewhere. I don't know if it's worth spending an hour getting the rest of the corrosion off, or if there might be other issues at play.
Can anyone offer any advice?
**broken link removed**
Sure enough, the relevant contacts looked corroded.
**broken link removed**
A guide I Googled recommended 90% isopropyl alcohol to clean with. The best thing I could find was my girlfriend's flatmate's nail polish remover...
**broken link removed**
Since cleaning up the contacts as best I could, the keyboard functions properly, but the dead keys haven't come to life. The contacts appear quite damaged – removing the blue-green gunk revealed a bronze surface (not obvious in the picture), rather than the black visible elsewhere. I don't know if it's worth spending an hour getting the rest of the corrosion off, or if there might be other issues at play.
Can anyone offer any advice?
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