XP60 Key replacement. Very hard to remove.

[LetterFrmPat]

Howdy. An F# key broke off of my beloved XP60. It was sticking and then I noticed after opening it up that it was broken of of the metal slab.
I see YouTube videos where people are just popping keys on an off on the XP60, but mine looks like the picture at the end of this post.

The keys are affixed to this very, very well. You can't pop them off by hand. Plus there is this very rugged plastic adhesive strip going across for all the black keys. I don't see that on videos of other XP60s! The key in question broke off pretty clean and all that's really left attached to the metal plate is the little nub of the keys that's still poking through the other side.

I guess the plan is the force-pop out the remaining nub of the broken key (with a tool) and hope a new key will somehow attach well. The black nub is also attached to that heavy duty black adhesive strip. Has anyone worked with this type of key design? Also open to suggestions of where to order replacement keys from the US.

Thanks! -Steve

[rcraven]

Does the black strip lock the keys in place?
Perhaps you push the black strip to the side so the locking tabs are clear of the keys.

Best of luck
Royce

[LetterFrmPat]

Thanks, Royce. That black strip is really on there and super tough to remove. The black strip extends to (and is part of) the plastic nub that locks the black keys in. This strip hasn't shown up on any XP-60 youtube videos I've seen except one that wasn't so useful. The adjacent white keys have to come off as well, to remove the black one. I haven't gotten a replacement key because they look to have a different nub, as far as I can tell. I'll probably try to remove the white keys next (they are fastened the same, except for the strip.. and very securely in there) with a pair of needlenose to get some more visibility of what's going on. Need my baby running again. This synth is a great compliment to other sounds available today, mixing them in a stack with plugins, etc. Plus, it's been my workhorse since 2000.

It's interesting that the other model runs of XP60 have such a different keyboard situation in this regard. It seems they decided not to make it very serviceable by users.

Cheers, -Steve

[LetterFrmPat]

For anyone else viewing this in the future: The black strip is not so robust, turns out. It same off by hand when getting underneath it at the ends. It's not part of the black keys as suspected and there is a separate strip per octave or so. This allowed release of the black and adjacent keys, so a replacement key is on the way.

[rcraven]

Good to know.
Glad you got it sorted.

Royce

[LetterFrmPat]

Aye, Royce. She's singin'. And telling my favorite plugins to sing.