Viscount Intercontinental - Portable B3 Knockoff

[Teasing the Korean]

I have one of these that has been in storage for ages.  Does anyone know if it is easy/possible to get parts for these? Are they easy or difficult to get repaired?

[Jim Alfredson]

Are you talking about the digital pipe organs?

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 11/11/2016 at 12:08 AM, Jim Alfredson said:

Are you talking about the digital pipe organs?

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No, it is a late 70s/early 80s analog keyboard, with drawbars, percussive harmonics, and percussive click, that is the closest thing to a Hammond B3 that I have ever heard.  When I bought mine, I ran it though a Leslie and A/B'ed it side by side with a digital Hammond through the same Leslie, and it sounded closer to a B3 than the digital Hammond. 

[Jim Alfredson]

Might have to call a vintage synth restorer, like Switched On in Austin, TX or RetroLinear in Pennsylvania. Are you in the States?

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 11/11/2016 at 4:02 AM, Jim Alfredson said:

Might have to call a vintage synth restorer, like Switched On in Austin, TX or RetroLinear in Pennsylvania. Are you in the States?

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Yes.  I'm taking it out of storage.  I assume it still works but it probably needs some TLC.  I will try these if there are any issues.  Thanks!

[JSngry]

What exactly is involved in vintage synth restoration? Probably depends on the machine, i know, but still, that sounds interesting.

[Jim Alfredson]

At the least, pretty much every synth needs the electrolytic capacitors replaced, as they only have a lifespan of about 25 years or so. The power supply electrolytics can be especially dangerous as they might fail and cause voltage problems which can fry sensitive components downstream. This happened to a Yamaha CS50 I bought for cheap. The original owner shoved it in a closet for 30 years, then took it out one day and plugged it in and the dried out electrolytics in the power supply caused a voltage surge which blew out pretty much every proprietary Yamaha chip in the thing. Not fun.

There's also calibration to get the synth back to factory spec. Some also contain foam that disintegrates over time that must be removed. And many suffer from problems with the keys / action. 

[rudy]

That what you said about the electronic failure worries right now , as i have a Yamaha MC 400 (1985) has midi Lower/Upper/Pedal, so i can use it to play organ clones like Voce or recently Ferrofish B4000+. I never hat a problem with it, but those instruments from that time were very solid made.

[Old Master Tech]

What Jim shared is directly applicable, regardless of how well instrument was constructed.  Amen to everything - Proactively replacement of electrolytic caps. Yamaha builds good stuff but laws of physics rule when it comes to how those caps work