61-key options: Nektar P6 vs GXP61 vs Korg KeyStage ?

[HCMarkus]

Proving the old adage: there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Never heard of Sugru before... looks like a very handy material to have around!

[stubbsonic]

Never heard of Sugru before... looks like a very handy material to have around!

Ever since I discovered Sugru, I've used it many, many times. I mounted a GK pickup to my bass using Sugru. I made a kind of "butt-crack" pick-holder out of surgru and put it on my guitar-- works better than the real thing.

Very high success rate for repairs & hacks.

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[HCMarkus]

I like how you filled in the cable slot under the pedal, too... should keep that important pice of wire intact in rough conditions!

[stubbsonic]

I like how you filled in the cable slot under the pedal, too... should keep that important pice of wire intact in rough conditions!

Good catch. I tried molding it on, but realize it was flush with floor, so I use straight edge and scraped it off carefully to level it.

I can picture the rough conditions: strong winds, flying debris, pile of hay, curious teething toddlers-- but worst of all, just banging around in my ratty old gear bag.

[stubbsonic]

AAAACK!!

After I got it all done, connected it to the keyboard, used a MIDI monitor mode and watched values. All was well but start to move the cord around a little and the female barrel jack had a very poor connection. It was the only option I could find on amzn. Unacceptable.

Unfortunately, the way I cut the wires, and fed them through the barrel of the jack, there was no simple fix for this. Had to strip it all off and start over. Booooo!! I disassembled the pedal to attach a new cord directly to the pot.

Alas. I've been fortunate that most of these little projects/mods/hacks I've done have worked out fine. Having a failure now and again is part of life. Powerful teachers, those failures.

But I won't risk using the same type of connector. I'll use a panel mount jack (like the one you used). Just have to work out how I'll mount it. Because my pedal is in the lower-toe position, your position idea won't work for me.

[James Steele]

But I won't risk using the same type of connector. I'll use a panel mount jack (like the one use used). Just have to work out how I'll mount it. Because my pedal is in the lower-toe position, your position idea won't work for me.

Not that this necessarily affects your situation, but I follow a guy on YouTube who is an interesting tech guy. Has a business that repairs Apple products and has been very active in the "right to repair" movement. He likes to talk about other topics from time to time, and he recently put up a video about a problem with very low quality electronic parts and components... adapters... connectors, etc. being sold through Amazon. Their ratings may even be manipulated to appear they are better. But apparently, many vendors of high quality components are pulling back from selling through Amazon for many reasons. It's making me leery of buying certain items on Amazon.




P.S. I don't even know if you got the barrel at Amazon, but just sharing this to the community here as I found it interesting.

[stubbsonic]

I did get the 4-pack from amzn. I could see how some less experienced consumers would not use the products properly, leaving bad reviews and possibly getting refunds for butchered projects. I've been at this long enough that I don't think this is user error.

With these cheaper connectors, the solder lugs/tabs may be very difficult to get solder to flow onto, and molded material that holds all the components is often a plastic with a lower melt point-- so the user experience ain't great.

OTOH, I have gotten quite good quality parts from amazon, and I've gotten not-great components from other vendors, so there aren't any guarantees. The reviews are pretty helpful, but you have to read them and use some judgement about what the writer is saying.

[HCMarkus]

B&H is a great place to buy legit parts at fair prices.

[stubbsonic]

B&H is a great place to buy legit parts at fair prices.

That's really helpful to know. Thanks!!

[stubbsonic]

Ordered a few little project boxes. Had TRS jacks, and an old switch lying around. Had to resolder a cord to the pot. Everything else was fairly straight-forward. I finally bought a fume extractor. Makes me wish I'd done that ages ago. Easy, cheap.

The main concern is just fastening to the rubber housing. I like E6000 glue, but I don't think it bonds super strongly to rubber like this. I have fairly easy ideas to make it more secure.

Anyway, it works now.

Pedal_v2.png (177.65 KiB) Viewed 273 times

[HCMarkus]

The main concern is just fastening to the rubber housing.

Nice!

Glue + Bolt thru the metal pedal frame using a flat-head bolt is my thought... if you haven't already glued the project box together, in which case you could use a couple of screws into the box plastic.

[stubbsonic]

It's a good idea, but I fear that ship has sailed. I'm thinking I'll just add a flat plate on the bottom and glue to that-- which should sure it up nicely.