ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY
BUILD STRENGTH - ELIMINATE WEAKNESS - UNLEASH POTENTIAL
Chronicles of the Overlord – Piano Update II
Commencing operation . . .
Overview
IT LIVES!
My digital grand piano is back in action!
Now it took several attempts from various people to get this bad boy back up and running again, over the past seven months. It makes for a tale to be told, so we begin with my attempt and work through to the final resolution. I also showcase my latest piano performance at the end, so stay tuned for that if nothing else!
My Attempt
My initial plan was to attack the piano from above. I removed the screws but was unable to take the top wooden lid off because there was superglue on the perimeter rope which had gone unnoticed. I then tried to dismantle the piano from underneath to access the keyboard. I will say right now that thank goodness I was deterred from proceeding with that course of action because it proved to be horrifically incorrect. Upon inspecting the underside, and undoing a bunch of screws, I was unable to make any progress towards the keyboard.
I had given up at this point and was going to call it quits, but one of my friends decided to take a look and see what he could do.
Friend 1 Attempt
My friend inspected the piano and went for the above the top approach like I initially did. The difference is that he realised the rope was preventing the wooden cover from coming off. Once we undid the screws and ripped the cord off, the lid was pried loose, and we were able to get into the belly of the beast.
What revealed itself to us was a lot of space and a technically complex electronic setup. We were able to understand the gist of how it all functioned together, but it would be near impossible to troubleshoot if the problem proved to be somewhere within that jungle of wiring. It looked pretty hopeless, so we called it quits, and I had resigned myself to that fact.
Friend 2 Attempt
That is until I became acquainted with someone during the summer with the right skills and experience to take on this task. He has a varied background with proficiency in gardening, engineering and electronics. Upon inspecting the instrument and hearing a spark sound from the switch, he correctly deduced that the problem was to do with a faulty switch, which makes sense, given that as far as electronics are concerned with powering the device; the switch is the most used part. It’s more likely for the switch to go than for a fuse to blow, for example.
To get to the switch, the keyboard had to be removed first. What appeared to be a nightmare job to remove the keyboard from the case, turned out to be relatively straightforward. Although there were dozens of screws in and around the keyboard, only a small number of them actually anchor the keyboard to the case.
Once the keyboard was removed, it was easy pickings to remove the switch to examine it. Using standard electrical monitoring equipment, my friend was able to confirm that the switch was indeed faulty and replacing it would resolve the outstanding issue.
Upon replacing the switch, we noticed that there was some kind of intermittent fault with the sound that some of the keys were producing. We tested a couple of things and concluded that the source of the problem was likely that some of the hammers were not always pressing down fully onto the digital board. At the time we were pretty exhausted so decided to leave it be as it looked like a lot of additional work, and see how I got on with the current fix.
New Setup
Below is the new piano setup I have.
I positioned the speakers behind the seat to create a surround sound system while I am playing, and have to say I like it better than when I had the speakers placed around the cabinet. For the short term, the piano is acceptable in the conservatory, and I think it is best placed there. However, the conservatory becomes hot and humid in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter.
A potential solution I may need to explore is to convert the glass roof to insulate the heat in the winter and block the punishing ultraviolet rays during the summer. It is autumn in the United Kingdom, so it is pleasant for the moment at least!
Corporate Archives
In celebration of the revival of my digital grand piano, allow me to present to you my latest performance!
Libraries are magical places. As a young child, I loved the library. I spent many hours tucked away in a secluded corner, reading a book. Filled with information and stories covering every kind of reality and fantasy one could possibly imagine. Books are marvellous things, and although not as many people read as they used to, I believe reading is a timeless art, often lost amidst the technological advancements of the world.
The Corporate Archives plays in what is essentially the Shinra company library in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. You only spend around five minutes or so in the Corporate Archives, yet the designers chose to create a unique soundtrack for that short part of the game. It also happens that the Corporate Archives, I believe, is the only soundtrack that is a pure piano solo; therefore, I knew I had to learn it.
Conclusion
Now I want to say that I did try to contact several digital piano engineers to take a look, but they all said that the model was too dated for them to work on. In fairness, the thing is around 40 years old.
It was fortunate that I crossed paths with someone who was ultimately able to fix my piano. Maybe someday we will take it apart again to see whether we can resolve the intermittent fault, but for now, I am thankful enough that it has been given a new lease on life.
Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.