The white caps on my A4 mk2 keyboard are getting yellow, some more severe than others. Of course that I can trace this back to a lot of usage since I got the synth in September.
As a new user it did not occur to me ( until recently) that I should have used the A4 with an external keyboard.
Now I wonder if it is possible to buy replacement caps from elektron. I’ve searched the forums and found that elektron is or was actually providing spares. Are they providing spares for the mk2 versions too?
Any input is much appreciated.
I am also new to the board and glad to have joined the community.
Very rarely and never indoors. Always wash my hands before operating any instruments, but yeah, if nicotine is such a stubborn compund that sticks indefinitely to my fingers, it must have made it’s way onto my white key caps.
I tried popping one key off and submerged it in a solution of 50/50 ipa-h2o with which I normally clean my records with, but it did not work or do any good, fwiw it made it worse ‘cause the thin layer of rubbery paint started peeling off of the sides of the cap… now I definitely want to restore the looks of my synth.
I started a support ticket enquiring the purchase of said spares too, hope it’s possible.
Even thought to get black caps to avoid any future issues
I’m surprised at the discolouring happening so soon. Some plastics are just prone to it (have a look at pretty much any Super Nintendo these days!).
Raise a support ticket with Elektron. I’d be amazed if they couldn’t help. Especially with it being a Mk2. I nearly bought a 2nd hand boxless AK a year or two back and asked them if I could purchase a box from them (I like having my stuff all in order) and it was possible so don’t see why not for something like this.
Prolly my habit to wipe the keys did not do any good either.
Being used to clean finger grease off the black keys of DT and OT and mainly satisfied with the ease I could clean those, I thought my A4 could benefit from the same procedure too, but not the white keys it seems. Wiping those seems to have furthered the staining.
Can’t help but blaim it on my borderline “new gear OCD”
Thanks for the input. I’m glad spares are available and hope elektron helps me on this one.
UV will speed degradation and discoloration as well. The plastics will last longer if kept away from sunlight. It sounds like that isn’t your issue but I figured it would be worth mentioning for future reference. The blue buttons on the Juno-106 turn a green hue when exposed to cigarette smoke but I’ve seen the same occur with UV exposure, for example.
@konputa I did think about UV exposure as there is some sunlight reaching my desk during mid day. But are UVs penetrating through windows and PL covers? Specialists swear on UV not passing through glass, although plastics clearly show otherwise. Nonetheless I provided the desk with a cloth to cover the goods while sun is up and I’m not using them, and curtains to block any sun while at the desk. I will definitely be more careful with UV in the future.
@sezare56 Don’t imagine I’ve not thought about gloves yet!
It’s been my experience that UV has no problem penetrating normal window pane glass. Obviously, there are glass coatings and whatnot that may diminish this.
The exact context was that of medicine. Not to derail to much from the topic, but e.g to assimilate vit. D3 with the help of sunlight, the doc. recommends being outdoors in full rays, rather than trying to absorb sunlight indoors, reason being UV don’t travel through glass windows.
But then again medicine is an experiemntal science! Nothing written in stone.
