I have a Kurzweil Mark 10 (circa 1994), which I love (mostly classical music). It was not played for 30 years, but I’ve now started again. I recently opened and cleaned the Fatar contacts and circuit board, (which were pretty clean to start with) wondering if it would help with the keys’ tendency to “clack” (noise upon return after pressing a key, and it’s across the entire 88 keys), but it did not. The sound seems mechanical, not electrical. So I’m thinking it may be that one of the felts needs replacement. I don’t have the fortitude to remove the individual keys to access the felt underneath them, but I’m wondering if replacing the felt at the top of the keybed (which seems thin) is worth exploring. If so, any recommendations about where to get the appropriate felt would be appreciated.
I have another piano (Yamaha DGX-650, circa 2015) available for comparison, which seems not to be as “clacky”. I’m wondering if what I’m experiencing with the Kurzweil is just a feature.
If I remember correctly the Fatar keyboard assembly the weights used would start cracking and there was one style that when the weight would come back to the rest position it would rest on a piece that would break off over time and it would make a thud or clacky sound the issue was resolved by replacing the weight but as we all know now they are NLA no longer available. You can disassemble and remove the weight and makeshift and added material to the area that is missing on the weight you’ll have to be creative, but I had never been successful in doing so. You can try if you have the time. When you get to the point where you can inspect the hammer weight if the weight has the issue it will sit lower than the rest. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for your reply! I think this may not be my issue, though, since all of the keys are uniformly a bit loud on the return, not just one or a few. But I will investigate – fortunately I took some pictures during disassembly to clean the circuit boards.
