Pianotech

  • 1.  Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV question

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 16 days ago

    Hi List

    Early on in the development of the Yamaha Disklavier series, I was one of the early experts for these instruments and own 2 of them.  However, I've haven't kept up on my calibration skills with the newer platforms.

    I have a DC6  that is shutting down after a few minutes of play. On the earlier models, this was usually a sign that the pedals were out of calibration, or the pedal board needed replacing.

    I need to get this issue resolved soon, so I would welcome your tutorials on the pedal calibration, or if you think it might be something else.

    Thanks in advance!

     

    Tom Servinsky 

    Registered Piano Technician

    Concert Artist Piano Technician

    Director/Conductor- Academy Orchestra

    Managing Conductor-Treasure Coast Youth Symphony

    Keyboardist- Beatles Re-Imagined

    Pianist with TLC Jazz Duo

    tompiano@tomservinsky.com

    772 221 1011 office

    772 260 7110 cell

     



  • 2.  RE: Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV question

    Posted 16 days ago

    Mark IV is unfortunately a literal PC computer hiding in the piano.  So here's two thoughts:

    1) The HDD spinning disk hard drive that is the Operating System, is now 2 decades old, and way past its life expectancy.  In 2020 I was only able to get a whole configured PC replacement, and it took about 6 moths; they did not at that time offer just the HDD, which is the necessary part.
    It's very possible that the drive is not yet completely failed, and will boot the computer computer, but then it hits bad sectors etc and the OS freezes a few minutes after boot.  I spoke with Ryan Ellison rellison@yamaha.com about this, and he says the HDD should be available.  If you haven't assembled a PC before, you might want to sub-contract with someone to install the replacement HDD, if it's available.  Better yet, get them to convert it to an SSD and save a disk image of the file for future repairs, since all Mark IV's will have this problem eventually.

    2) There is a power supply issue with Mark I and II, but I'm not sure if it extends through III and IV.  Basically, an IC fails that was produced exclusively for this power supply, so the unit doesn't fully turn on, or at all, and it cannot be repaired without that IC.  Those IC's ran out in 2019-ish, but  Yamaha ordered a new batch and TAP Electronics in Buena Park will perform the repair. It's about $650 last time I had it done.  They supposedly repair the problem that causes the failure, as well as install the IC.  That IC is not directly available for purchase, so you can't do the PCB repair yourself, which is not a piano tech skill anyway.  This is probably not the issue though, most likely the hard drive.

    Good luck...



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    Robin Whitehouse
    Greenbelt, MD
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  • 3.  RE: Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV question

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 15 days ago

    Well, you are looking at one happy camper. Ryan from Yamaha Tech services walked me through the entire calibration process on the Mark IV.  There are some unique aspects of this platform, as using the interface remote takes a bit of getting used to.  Once I got comfortable with everything, navigating my way through the process was quite logical.

    So this what I've learned :

    The sustain pedal throw distance is absolutely critical. It has to be 15 mm on the money.   If it gets into the 17mm- 20 mm range, for which what was happening here, the solenoid will overheat, and the pedal shuts off.

    If you find yourself in this situation, take the back of the pedal mechanism face plate off.  On the pedal rods are 2 scribed lines.  The top line needs to be absolutely parallel with the base of the pedal mechanism case.

    If you are using a typical metal metric 6' ruler, the width of those types of rulers are exactly 15mm. Use that has your guide and it's pretty straightforward.

    The other thing, when this does shut down, the remainder of the piano will keep playing. Its just shutting down the pedal mechanism.

     

    We went through the entire calibration process and the system is working perfectly.  Kudos to Ryan, thank you enough for taking the time to walk me through the process.

    Tom Servinsky 

    Registered Piano Technician

    Concert Artist Piano Technician

    Director/Conductor- Academy Orchestra

    Managing Conductor-Treasure Coast Youth Symphony

    Keyboardist- Beatles Re-Imagined

    Pianist with TLC Jazz Duo

    tompiano@tomservinsky.com

    772 221 1011 office

    772 260 7110 cell

     






  • 4.  RE: Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV question

    Member
    Posted 15 days ago

    Thanks for posting the details. I do not see too many Disklaviers here but they are out there. One problem I have seen is the breakdown of the cable that goes down the lyre that gets broken when the piano is moved. As an FYI I had to work with a Baldwin Concert Master that had a HDD in the big interface box that hung under the keybed. The HDD was totally dead but through the use of software and cables as well as some hardware I was able to recover music files owned by the client. 

    Pedal solenoids in player systems are often one of the trickiest components to calibrate. Ask me how I know



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    James Kelly
    Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
    Pawleys Island SC
    (843) 325-4357
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  • 5.  RE: Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV question

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 14 days ago

    James and List

    I forgot to mention one other thing that we had to do to make this happen. And thank you James for jogging my memory. The first thing that Ryan told me to get  ( before I went back to the piano) is to get a 6ft high level RCA cable, as those break down with age and can be the root of a lot of problems.  Those cables on the piano are blue and green RCA type. The really early on models, it was a straight RCA with blue and green tape wrapped on.  Those turned out to be problematic.

    Well sure enough, when we started the calibration process, 90% of the checks were not registering with the computer system.  So I swapped the RCA cables out, and bingo, that opened up the communication line.

    Ryan urges those who service these older units to keep this in mind.

     

    On a higher level, its sure a benefit to us working in the field when you can get a factory tech on the line willing to go the distance with the service techs to resolve problems. Can't say enough good things about the Yamaha service center. They got this dialed in correctly and I wish all the companies would follow suit.

     

    Tom Servinsky 

    Registered Piano Technician

    Concert Artist Piano Technician

    Director/Conductor- Academy Orchestra

    Managing Conductor-Treasure Coast Youth Symphony

    Keyboardist- Beatles Re-Imagined

    Pianist with TLC Jazz Duo

    tompiano@tomservinsky.com

    772 221 1011 office

    772 260 7110 cell

     






  • 6.  RE: Yamaha Disklavier Mark IV question

    Member
    Posted 14 days ago

    Ryan is excellent and has been an outstanding resource. Yamaha has great support/tech help



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    James Kelly
    Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
    Pawleys Island SC
    (843) 325-4357
    ------------------------------