How to repair a Yamaha Clavinova CLP 860 with a loud and/or silent key

My Clavinova CLP 860 was damaged during a wedding when it was knocked over. Two keys started playing super loudly so I fixed them by opening up the keyboard and cleaning out the contact strip. Other keys stopped playing so I repaired them by removing some other debris. It isn't hard. I lost the filming segment just after removing the brass keyboard bolts, so what isn't shown is: When the keyboard is unbolted, slide it forward about a centimeter and then you can lift up the front of it and unplug the blue cord connecting to the circuit board and remove the wires from the holder in the back of the keyboard.
I also didn't show how to put everything back together. Just reverse the steps.

[@tpjv86b]

CLP-535 owner here. I watched this video and followed all the steps, including cleaning the rubber contact pads. I reassembled the keyboard, plugged it in, but no sound! After hours of troubleshooting, I eventually fixed it by figuring out that I messed up in assembling the PCB boards and rubber contact strips. On the CLP-535, unlike the CLP-860, there are some tiny black tabs that are sticking out - your three green PCB boards have to snap in behind those tiny black tabs after you push the gray rubber contact pads securely into their grooves (the keys have to be lifted pretty high up to do this properly - I shoved a metal rod behind the metallic levers of each key to make sure they stayed lifted up).

[@johanneswack4017]

Same thing here! Take care of the tiny black tabs!

[@cryonisc]

This should be pinned for CLP-525 as well! Best comment!

[@malikabderrahmane6458]

Hey there. Same to me. No sound at all, I cried all night long thinking I fucked it up. The day after that, I took it apart again. I didn't properly set the green circus under the black plastic mark. Then everything worked thanks God. It's actually pretty easy but we need to be gentle and careful.

[@christopherwoodward3872]

Useful video which can be used (with minor variations) for a range of different Clavinova models. The main difference is that more recent ones (such as my CVP601) have a different type of rubber contact strip (grey, with pockets, and in several pieces). Care is needed to get these strips correctly positioned when replacing. If you have the odd “loud” note, the professional repairers will in my experience replace the entire set of contact strips when, in reality, a gentle vacuum of the strips/pockets will often solve the problem.

[@wrongkey]

THANK GOD you did this video. I was skeptical about repairing myself. Now it seems much simple

[@Gmaztone]

Thanks Allen for sharing this video. My CLP -470 keyboard wasn't working well and I had read about faulty sensors and expensive things like that. Fortuntely came across your guide. I could take out and clean all the sensors below the keys just with water, and now it"s working as new. Much appreciated.

[@1yasin6]

Don't use water use contact cleaner. Water made damage it as its conductive or let it corrode and all that. Contact cleaner vaporates residue free and can be used for all sorts of electronics.

[@alan-zz1yy]

Hi Allen, Thank you very much for showing off it was very helpful. I have a clp-230, some slight, small differences but easy to overcome. Thanks again,

[@diegogallego9370]

Thank you very much for sharing the video. I just cleaned it up. I even removed the keys and put some grease around them.

[@HarmonicaMustang]

Allen, you f***ing champion I can't thank you enough for this video. My local pub was getting rid of a CLP 920 and they wanted it off their hands so I grabbed it. There's a bunch of dead keys, loud keys, soft keys and bouncing keys, but I couldn't find any forum or manual that took disassembly past removing the keys. With your insights I can get this keyboard back to its glorious form. Thank you.

[@Dmcdonald502]

Thank you! Great attention to detail. I have one key that’s out. Going to watch this a few times and then try it! Feel confident though.

[@tobygilbert7699]

Thanks for this video. It inspired me to fix my old Kawai Piano. I made a 8 part series for anyone who may have a similar problem@ Its a different Model (PN300) to the one you are working on so I hope this helps someone out there

[@philbouasse8749]

Thanx so much Allen for sharing. Did like you show. Works like it should.

[@fooflington]

Thanks, it was very helpful for doing a similar procedure on a CLP-170. It's not quite the same on the inside (there are more bits!) but the principle was great!

[@AFiB1999]

Hey Alen, I have the same keyboard. Mine was doing this clunk noise when the key return to rest position. I went ahead and got a new felt and no more noise. I used your videos to be able to remove the keyboard. Thanks

[@Anekinzz]

That was really helpful, I had 2 loud keys and my piano just needed a really good clean CLP-535, really easy to fix, thanks so much.

[@wrongkey]

Is it the same assembly type ? I have a 545 with 2 keys that are broken also

[@Eliyahillel]

@@wrongkey if you didn't do it already, yeah, it's pretty similar. only a few differences... (I'm talking about the 535)

[@ChrisWalshZX]

I've also got a CLP-535 with the middle-C and A-flat-below-middle-C doing the loud thing. Glad to hear that the 535 and the 860 that is featured on the video have a very similar assembly. Just need to decide when to take the plunge! Thanks all.

[@Eliyahillel]

​@@ChrisWalshZX I can tell you that for me it took around 1.5 hours including cleaning and vacuuming most of the inside (BTW I have found there a metal fork that the previous owner have somehow put there accidentally, you may also find some treasures😂)

[@jurgenhein4947]

Hi Allen, This is to say thank you! Without you I would never have been abble to take my Clavinova apart and reassemble it - and cleaning the contact pads made it work properly again. All the best, Juergen

[@perugeorges]

You are very welcome! It made my day to see your message! Gottes Segen

[@gregaravnik6957]

Wow. Great job. CONGRATULATIONS. 😍❤️💯👏

[@CameraRestore]

Very valuable video, thank you for sharing! Greetings from UK!

[@johanneswack4017]

Thank you! It worked! My uppermost Keys didn‘t work anymore. Turned out that someone spilled Milkcoffe over! Cleaned the contacts. (Clavinova from 1995)

[@ababababeebababa]

I was happy to find this video as my Yamaha PSR-6300 seems to have the same dual parallel keyboard contact strips with thin overlay. I am guessing thats an old school but good system since the 6300 was a $2600 flagship keyboard in 1986. Im guessing these clav keyboards use some vintage parts. I had a key not working and basically just cleaned it ul.

[@dhaneyy]

Whoah thank you for the video, it really helpful!

[@lg654]

Great video.

[@acebone2]

I have a CLP 880 that I'd like to clean one day - now I have instructions on how to (dis)assemble - thnx!

[@elikamil7651]

thank you so much for good tutorial sr..

[@paulromsky9527]

I am glad to hear that you used Isopropyl Alcohol to clean your contacts, if you can get 99%, that is the best. You can get 99% at Ace/True Value hardware stores. Some people use electronics contact cleaner which is good too. Every few years you may have to clean the carbon/rubber strips. Pollution in the air causes a glaze to form on the rubber surface lowering their conductivity. You may have to very lightly sand (burnish) the rubber with 200 grit sandpaper and clean them with alcohol. DO NOT burnish the carbon covered serpentine traces on the circuit board, only clean those with alcohol and wipe them with a new linen lint free cloth - keeping a fresh spot on the cloth as you wipe across the traces. Look for cracks, dents, dings and any deformity in the dual contact strip. Replace it if you find any defects because that can cause keys to play with the wrong "velocity" (dynamics), sustain incorrectly, or not play at all.

[@sawaungnaingsoe8939]

Thank for your video. My Yamaha CLP 440 has a problem of extra notes, when I play more then two notes or Chords.

[@scottmcintosh9]

Nice alarm in the background

[@paulromsky9527]

A 8:00 that white thing is the key switch isolation gasket. The green and black thing is the dual contact strip. The black parts are carbon Impregnated rubber so they are soft but electrically conductive. When you press a key, it presses down on the backside of the dual contact strip which pushes the first rubber contact agaisnt against the serpatine traces on the circuit board that is mounted under it (shown on top of it in your video because it is upside down). This is how the computer CPU knows that you started to press as key, a few milliseconds later the key will press down on the second rubber contact to its serpantine traces. The CPU measures the time between the first and second strips making contact and that is how it determines how fast you pressed the key so it can emulate the dynamics of the key action. The white gasket keeps one key from interfering and flexing the dual contact strip to adjacent keys when you play a key.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Thanks. Very useful.

[@konikacariapa3289]

Hi! This was very useful- i have the exact same model- what does one do if the black runner strip base where the keys attach onto has cracked an come off in bits- is that the end and would require a complete keyboard change? THX

[@townnet]

8:09 Hi, do you think the key weight is come from the metal rod or spring? If I cut off a little bit the end of the u-shape rod, cut every rod to different length, from the low key to high key, long to short, is possible to mimic linear weight key like acoustic piano?

[@paulromsky9527]

Nice video. At 1:58 use an empty egg carton for your screws. The paper ones are good, but plastic ones work too. You can mark each "cubby" with a sharpie. Don't ever throw away all of your egg cartons. Save a few for projects. They are stackable and don't go bad on the shelf.

[@jonahprescott8378]

I did what you did and then a couple other keys aren’t making sound now, I think that the plastic thing with the squares is getting in the way, would it be bad to take it out and see if it works without it?

[@banibienvenumassar9754]

Thank you for this

[@kimheo6799]

I have CVP-50 and it was working fine before it is moved to a new location. After cleaned all outside, I turned the power and put the high volume, then no sound at all at the power light on. I appreciate your reply as to what the problem is. Thank you so much in advance!!

[@ChrisWalshZX]

4:20 Great Video. I've got a CLP-535 and the control panel is on the left side of the keyboard and even through there is just a single screw that can be removed from the top as per this video, the control panel remains firmly in place and I don't know why. I can't remove the key panel until this control panel is removed as it sits under it. Any pointers? Thanks.

[@ChristianKoehler77]

Yesterday I did this on my p-515. Some keys randomly played extremely loud. I am out of warranty, so I decided to try it myself. It was quite difficult. Especially reinstalling the circuit board onto the rubber contacts. If you lay there keyboard mechanism flat on its face the weights will pull the keys down. This pushes the rubber stripes out of alignment and the piano doesn't work after reassembly.. I have learned this the hard way - after putting 100 screws back in. You'd need to be in a zero G environment, but spaceflight is more expensive than a new piano. You have to figure out a way to keep the keyboard mechanism vertical while you insert the rubber mats and put the circuit board back in place. I have a feeling the Yamaha service would just replace the entire mechanism instead, it does not look it is designed to be serviced. It was not easy to disassemble and reassemble the piano itself. You have to disassemble a lot to get to the keyboard mechanism. I still have some screws left over,I don't know where they were. I will keep them just in case I ever have to open the thing again. I won't open it again just to put those screws in, it feels solid, so who cares. But most important: It worked. The piano plays nicely and all keys respond very evenly. I am very happy. Btw. I used some contact cleaning spray on the rubber contacts. I have used that in the past to fix notebook keyboards and such in the past.

[@masoudmontazery907]

good luck sir...

Thank you for this video. I also have a CLP-860 and today it suddenly developed one loud key. Nothing special happened to the piano though, I hope it’s just a bit of dust.

Just fixed it! It was indeed a 1 mm small piece of indeterminate gunk that sat on one of the two black strips where the ‘loud’ key makes contact. It took some care and checking to prevent the white Teflon strip from shifting during reassembling from its proper position, like another commenter said. But it wasn’t hard. The key is fixed again, thanks for the video!

[@perugeorges]

Glad it helped you!

Unfortunately my first repair - of a loud B key (1 octave + 1 key below middle C) resulted in another problem: the F# above middle C turned out to act weird. When pressed it sounded as if the sustain pedal was pressed, and it didn’t react until first another key was pressed. I must admit that I had been a bit worried when assembling the circuit boards on the keyboard unit, because that white (Teflon?) strip kept being pushed aside as soon as I started to fasten the screws of the circuit boards. Eventually it looked as if it was as straight as I could get it. At least all the little black pins where the tabs of the white strips are supposed to fit over were all peeking through he circuit board when the screws were all done. I suppose that the strip must still have been a bit skewed, resulting in that odd behaviour of that one F# key. So today I took it apart again. I tried to make sense of @Citroenrasp’s instructions as he had apparently had some similar problems. I had help of a friend this time. And we tried putting the keyboard unit on it’s narrow back side, stabilised by two books. The problem here was though that there was no way in which we could keep the contact & white strips in place while fastening the circuit boards. It also didn’t look as if the pressure that kept pushing the white strip aside came from the keys - we thought that it was just the contact strip being squeezed by the circuit boards that did it (I have a CLP-860). Whatever the case, it still happened with the unit on its narrow back side and he keys all up. So we thought of something else: to keep the white strip in place with a couple of pieces of Scotch magic tape - I made sure to only have them stuck to the little tabs (not on the contact strip) and the other end stuck to the black plastic of the unit. Then we carefully put all the screws back, starting with a few across the whole width, and adding more while keeping them all turned equally far and checking in between if the strip was still aligned. And hey, that worked! That key problem is gone, and the piano is back to normal. I hope it will still be normal tomorrow :) Thanks all!

[@qewpew5071]

My B below middle C is REALLY LOUD too

[@MrJeanantoinedeprez]

Hi Allen. Thanks a lot for your video. We did the same thing with a CLP 811, we cleaned the green contact strip and everything we could but the piano still has 4 or 5 keys that don't work. Do you think we could fix the problem by replacing the contact strip by a new one?

[@maryadams4541]

Thank you!

[@naimovicartsbrussels]

Thank you. Repaired.

[@junior6351]

hello, the set of keys, ruler and rubbers of the clp 156 s is for the clp 840?

[@paulromsky9527]

I have a DX7. It looks like the Clavinova emulates the feal of a real clavicord with hammers. Does this instrument have After Touch, where you can set parameters to change the timbre of notes by applying various pressure to the keys while being held down?

[@IWC6533]

Hi sir. I do have a unit Clavinova 930. I have few queries during my DIY repair. I'm not sure whether is circuit board (key notes) or the rubbers and felt has error. Pls advise.

[@enricopunzo]

Thanks!

[@RA-el6zj]

Great video! But unfortunately what I was looking for wasn't filmed. I want to repair my cp33, but I don't know how to disconnect the keyboard electrical wire safely from the keys. How do you disconnect the blue wire exactly?

[@nettiea9384]

Bless ur heart! i can see this isnt a job for me! But thx this was helpful... as a diagnosis... i need a Technician... afraid to ruin it for good

[@marcosgoncalves3550]

Hi, this vídeo is amazing, can you Help me please, my clavinova CLP 930 is making só much noise when we play, is there something we can do to reduce the noisy? Thanks

[@uchihanasi6980]

Sheeesh i completely broke my piano :)

[@zorba1633]

hi, thanks for this informative video. I have the same model, and all C keys and F# keys are dead... do you think this is CPU issue or just a cleanup should fix it ? also, is there a known place where we can buy parts for this old model ? thanks.

[@citroenraspdideveed9243]

Thx for this very nice video! I have a question, you mentioned that you already cleaned the rubber green contact strip. The question is how did you clean it, what did you use, alcohol or water or what? Another question is, can you clean the contacts on the circuit board also, and how do you do that, what do you use? Or is this not a good idea to clean the circuit board contacts?

[@citroenraspdideveed9243]

I did not listen very well you used alcohol ;-) But the circuit board question still remains. Thank you

[@perugeorges]

I cleaned the rubber green strip with rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. I didn't clean the contacts on the circuit board, but if they were dirty I would wash them gently with alcohol as well.

[@citroenraspdideveed9243]

I want to share my findings because you took the time to reply to my question. I followed you video very well but I had one of the following issues: Key(s) did not work at all, keys next to each other seem to work on their own but not work pressed together. I took the circuit boards and contact strip apart about 10 times, and every time there were other keys that had an issue. It took me very much time and some frustration. But then it hit me! The problem was that the circuit board is placed when all the keys are pressed, so you must apply pressure to return the 2 circuit boards. I did the following: Remove all the connectors from the 2 circuit boards on the keyboard part. Place the keyboard unit on a table with the tip of the keys up and the circuit boards down facing you (now the key-unit rests on its narrow back side). Make sure all the keys go back to its normal, not pressed position. Make sure everything is very clean! Notice that the contact strip had a left and right side! Carefully place the contact strip in the groves (the hammers are down so they do not press the contact strip away)(do not touch the black contact-rubbers with your fingers). Make sure it is centered and in the groves so it is one straight line. Place the white strip over the contact strip, this is kind of hard but you can do it! (this strip also has an left and right side). Now comes the hard part, place the circuit boards. Just point the full little arrow to the plastic piece and hold it kind of in an angle (do not touch the contact point with your fingers). (Maybe it’s a good idea to study how the circuit board is fitted before you start). You will notice that the boards just will fall into place and no pressure has to be applied. Put back all the screws do not put much pressure on the screws just lightly tighten them, but make sure they are all the way in. Place the key-unit flat on it keys, put back all the connectors. Make sure to put the cables where they belong otherwise the keyboard will rest on the cables. Tape the cable tree in place. That’s it! One other thing I learned, when you put the contact strip in the wrong way, some keys are at 100% volume when pressed together. Success!

[@perugeorges]

Glad you got your piano working again!

[@hhoward14]

Do you not think that the keys have become clunky? It looks as if it would have been fairly straight forward to change the felt whilst it was apart if you could get it easily. It's just a question, as my CLP860 has become clunky, but not quite as much as that one. Maybe I should learn to live with it.... Very best regards, and thanks for the fine video.

[@kirbyg9495]

Yes, I agree, noisy keys. The felt stoppers probably should have been changed while it was apart

[@pleriche]

One thing better than a piece of paper to put your screws on is a piece of paper and some blobs of blu-tac to stick the screws to. And if you have to put the job aside to finish later, assuming you've only used half the paper, you just fold it over.

[@luffydsaluki5580]

Can I use electric contact cleaner for cleaning? Thank you so much for sharing this.

[@kirbyg9495]

Yes. One that's safe for electronics. That's all I would use.

[@szatanica1]

Is it advisable to clean the whole thing with a pressured air thingy? Like you use for the computer keyboards?

[@perugeorges]

I actually used a vacuum to clean out all of the dust too.

[@deokureta108]

Lokalna F. When it's close to some board or electric system you want to avoid vacuum cleaner beacause of the static electricity that it develop and which might damage the circuit. So yeah presurised air is the way to go ^^

[@jonathanjudd3168]

I had a CLP-360 with a bunch of dead keys that i threw out. Looking back, I probably should have at least tried to take apart amd clean.

[@perugeorges]

Bummer! Oh well, can't change the past!

[@gianlucap7591]

Is there an equivalent tutorial for Clavinova CLP930?

[@philippelobit2985]

I've just done it on my CLP930, it is exactly the same. Now it works like new !

[@derobernugget2410]

Can somebody please help me I have got a Yamaha Clavinova CLP-350 and sometimes it's making a loud bang while playing can somebody please give me an answer

[@peternelson4419]

First of all, if it's only once in a blue moon, don't worry about it. I have had this happen with a CLP 500 and other keyboards over the many years. Sometimes even a soft-synth in a studio setting. Reboot if you want to and relax. I take it you're talking about the "BRAAK" sound? The digital universe has it's gremlins.

[@oakleytheaf6792]

It's hell taking apart an old clavinova. Those can withstand a nuclear blast

[@benjaminm.1965]

Hi, I followed your tutorial but for a CVP92 (the same thing) because one on my key was silent but when I reassembled my piano, 95% of key are not working :/ Do you have an idea ?

[@littlehedchog123]

Benjamin M. Prob not plugged the wires in properly

[@motorcop02]

I bet he wishes he had replaced the key felt while he had it apart! It will fix that click when the key is released.

[@DLightful]

I tried updating the firmware on my Clavinova CVP-307M and the Clavinova got stuck during the process. I waited ten or more hours and the update never completed. When I turn on the Clavinova, all I get is a "program error" message on the screen and the Clavinova is waiting for me to provide program files. The USA website of Yamaha has version 1.80 firmware available, and the UK site of Yamaha also has a 1.60 version. Both of these versions get stuck at the same point during the process. Can anyone explain why this Clavinova CVP-307M is not completing the firmware update? The firmware version that I have been using happily since the time of purchase is 1.54. Can anyone provide me with the version 1.54 files?

[@umramghouri7283]

I think I just wrecked my contacts while cleaning them. Does anyone knows how to bring them back to life? Before I had 3 keys not working now the whole things is gone. 😢

[@walterkenyon5346]

I noticed that your keyboard suffers from the same problem as mine, very loud hammer noise. Clunking. Have you looked into how to fix that?

[@kirbyg9495]

I heard that too. Felt stopper strips (lower for sure) probably need replacing.

[@banibienvenumassar9754]

I did everything as you did and now there's no sound coming when I press any key

[@Dan_Moller]

Did you plug back all the cables? Did you force the panel up so any cable might have been disconnected? Something important they don't say in any video, you should not be touching circuits with bare hands as there might be electrical discharges or the static electricity in your body might damage circuits.

[@1yasin6]

@@Dan_Moller it's a not connected cable or something like that. damage though electrical discharge is not a common problem. But still don't touch it and especially not the contacts as you would make them dirty.

[@LordvonHaus]

good video, i completely broke my piano now :)

[@MartinMigeot]

same

[@uchihanasi6980]

Same

[@umramghouri7283]

Same! I think I clean the circuit and also touched it.

[@Navya-mu3es]

I more question is that can i use petrol to clean circuit board or not or can clean with water.

[@perugeorges]

I don't think I would use petrol, just because I think it would smell bad for a long time. I'd pick water if I had to choose.

[@Navya-mu3es]

@@perugeorges update i left my piano in sunlight foe half an hour and rhe problem is gone.

[@lililolo82]

Water n hand soap will do. There is the carbon on that board dont use petrol. Lol

[@szatanica1]

Its not a motorcyle. Even if it were you dont use petrol to clean it...but hey! Give it a go and let us know so we can laugh our asses of:)

[@kirbyg9495]

No water. No petrol. Use an electrical contact cleaner made specifically for electronics. Dries quickly and leaves no residue.

[@Mr4Strings]

Why not take the time to clean all that dirt and dust which will most likely cause more problems in the future. Just sayin'

[@bisconect]

Thank you but the audio volume of this video is far too low ...

[@00dahc]

Your device is capable of increasing it's volume, fyi.

[@PolarityDust]

For a person helping with electronic audio, you might figure out how to turn your microphone up for these videos.

[@00dahc]

You can also turn up the volume on your device. Quite easy to do. Would you like a tutorial?

[@jamespeck276]

@@00dahc Exactly correct. When people act like children, then you must treat them like children.