[sdiy] Key spring colors on ARP synths

Maarten synthmaarten at artefacts.nl
Sat Feb 15 17:50:42 CET 2025 

I made mine from an old inkjet printer axle, I used a lathe to make the 
axle 6.5mm thick at the end. The cut on the end is about 1.5mm wide and 
3mm deep.


Op 3-2-2025 om 17:50 schreef Benjamín Velasco:
> Thanks for the reply. Good to see I didn't dream that. I'll check 
> those manuals. Do you happen to have a picture of the one you made 
> that you could share?
>
> Ben
>
>
> El lun, 3 de feb de 2025, 13:40, Maarten via Synth-diy 
> <synth-diy at synth-diy.org> escribió:
>
>     There are several color variants of the springs. If I came across 
>     blue and brownish ones. I am not sure if the colors where used for
>     specific variants of the keyboards. There are at least two
>     keyboard variants, the one with the metal key holders and the one
>     with the completely plastic keys. There is a slight difference in
>     length of the springs.  When I take a keyboard apart I sort the
>     springs and when assembling the keyboard I start with the black
>     keys which is the lowest amount of keys and thus springs.
>
>     Yes there was a tool, you can see a part of it in the service
>     manual of the Moog Micro and Multimoog service manual. I made one
>     myself and it makes aligning keyboards much easier.
>
>     Best,
>     Maarten
>
>     Op 3-2-2025 om 16:35 schreef Benjamín Velasco via Synth-diy:
>>     Slightly OT.
>>
>>     I think I once read about a specific tool for leveling those
>>     Pratt Read keyboards that allowed pushing/pulling the bushings
>>     posts without having to remove the keys. Or did I dream this tool
>>     existed?
>>
>>     El dom, 2 feb 2025 a las 20:39, <tamedogs at wildcats.com> escribió:
>>
>>         I worked there from early 1974 to late 1980.
>>         Keyboards came from pratt-read. They came out of the crates,
>>         a guy named
>>         Gene buffed the keys and into the units they went. I never
>>         heard anyone ever
>>         talk about spring colors.
>>
>>         Dana
>>
>>         -----Original Message-----
>>         From: Synth-diy [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org] On
>>         Behalf Of Terje
>>         Winther
>>         Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2025 4:36 PM
>>         To: David G Dixon via Synth-diy <Synth-diy at synth-diy.org>
>>         Subject: [sdiy] Key spring colors on ARP synths
>>
>>         Recently I have fixed some old ARP synths. They all needed a
>>         really good
>>         cleaning of the keyboard. And as you know; you need to remove
>>         those key
>>         springs to change key bushings and various other fixes.
>>         The key springs have two colors; black and (dark) red.
>>         Supposedly because of
>>         different tensions for the white and black keys, since they
>>         have slightly
>>         different horizontal travel.
>>
>>         But here is where it gets strange:
>>         Some of the synths I have fixed used black springs for black
>>         keys (sort of
>>         easy to remember), while other synths used the red ones for
>>         the black keys.
>>         So which is correct? Or did ARP change this according to any
>>         sort of
>>         differences between the various versions of the Axxe and
>>         Odyssey etc.?
>>
>>         Anyone?
>>
>>
>>
>>         Terje Winther
>>         terje.winther at wintherstormer.no
>>         http://wintherstormer.no/
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>     -- 
>>     *Benjamín Velasco Ossandón*
>>     Cel. +56 9 96344468
>>     Casa. +56 2 27162400
>>     Oficina. +56 2 29254154
>>
>>     ________________________________________________________
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>     ________________________________________________________
>     This is the Synth-diy mailing list
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