Vintage Synth Repair

Roland U-20

( Posted by: "LonePiper")

    Roland U-20... If you knock the keyboard, or the stand even,
sometime you the key will start to sound. To me, it sound like there
is corrosion or something on the
    contacts... the bank 6 button does not respond and when I try to
access PCM cards, it can't find them. 

    (Reply)
       ---Sounds like it took a beer spill on a gig one night.
       If gaining access to the innards is the problem, I can't help
you - I haven't had that many Rolands to dissect. But I do know I've
been able to get this trick to fly on an EMAX keyboard, and its
illegitimate cousin badged with a Baldwin logo: I take a 4"x1/2" strip
of fairly coarse paper (not abrasive), get it moistened with a
compound like Caig's DeOxit or just a common tuner cleaner; hold it
between the key contacts in question, press down on the key or button
and drag the strip thru the closed contacts 2 or 3 times.
       Similar chemical treatment is done with a toothpick or
toothbrush inside Molex plugs (or other quick-connect devices) that
connect the keyboard or control board to the main PC board.
       Don't know if this is helpful or obvious, but either way, good
luck.

    AP