New maxikorg (Japanese Edition)

New maxikorg from Japan

The internal parts during check and maintenance

The exterior with original plywood and vveneer panels

The birth cert of the maxikorg 9 july Showa 52 (1977)

Kitaro in "Milky Way"

KITARO plays the Korg Poly 6, song title 'Milky Way'

Professonally Restored Maxi Korg DV800

This is how my restored Maxikorg Dv800 looks like.

Internal electronics restored and serviced by Kaz of Urban Music, Tokyo.

Wood work by my dear father and myself

Body restoration and airbrush by me.

Total price SGD 4000.

Compare this to the unit in Korg museum And the one used by Kitaro.

Restoration of broken down minikorg700

Minikorg works suddenly on Sunday morning

My local PC tech replaced all the capacitors but to no avail...still droning sounds

So one Friday evening, I decided to clean the tuning pots with rubbing alcohol and cotton buds and tweaking them, making sure not to clean away the sharpie marker markings made by the factory. I made  sure I set the pots back to original positions after the maxikorg lesson.

I switched on the minikorg this morning and cranked the switches and did some LFO with traveler...

Suddenly the headphones went soft and the keyboard started working. Clean and in tune notes...

My non-professional conclusion, the pots are dirty and old pots are preventing the current from VCO to the output..

Here is a clip of the sound test

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=798154850235447

Replacement of missing sliders with maxikorg sliders

The seller of my maxikorg recommended me to a ebay seller in Holland who restores vintage synth

He sold me several original replacement sliders and also a Maxikorg VCO.

Replacing broken minikorg keys with moog prodigy keys

The keys from Puerto Rico arrived yesterday and I took minikorg from Colin's Echo computers repair shop to fix the broken F key

Like the maxikorg, we need to remove the keybed to fit the new replacement properly in to the slots. Alternatively, I have shave little bits to make it fit without having to remove the keybed..but do this at your own risk, I have ruined brand new keys before when I shaved off too much plastic.

Here are the pictures of the new moog keys and old broken korg keys and steps showong how I replaced the old korg with moog keys.

The moog keys behind the original korg keys with broken J 

The korg F key removed from slot

  

Replacing the moog keys

Report on Repair Works done on Maxikorg by Urban Music

Repair Works by Urban Music Japan

To date, Urban Music and Kaz is the 1st full-time synthesizer/ organ technician I have worked with.

I must say I am impressed by the efficiency and no-nonsense approach of Japanese technicians. The fee, inclusive of shipping is very very affordable and reasonable.

They have listed the cost of repair of damaged components in Maxikorg. The CV buffer FETs have worn-out and damaged causing the single tone and they have added a resistor to stabilize the drifting pitch. They have even added an extra knob for me. I should have removed the homemade faders too.

The term "aging' sounds funny and ironical for a middle-aged synthesizer player. Both the musician and machine are both aging approximately at the same rate (both Maxi and I are 40 yrs of age when the blog is written)...Maxi has gone for her functional test, but her owner hasn't gone for his medical test for a long time :p

Now, I am waiting eagerly for Maxi to return to my arms before testing the repaired sounds again.

Urban Music has packed my beloved DV800 nicely before shipping out to SG again.

Now starts the waiting game.

MAXIKORG lands in SG!

4days later, I received maxikorg and these were the transistors that were spoilt.

Maxi korg lands in tokyo for repairs

Maxi Korg arrives in Japan, Setagaya-ku, Daita.

I took a BIG risk and sent Maxi korg to the nearest certified synthesizer/ organ technician in Japan, Tokyo. Daita. Its a one-man-show called Urban Music that services Hammond Organs.

Kaz Kawanse sent the pictures of Maxi as she landed and highlighted the conditions/ damages that were initially there with white tape.