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Colorfull keys?!

 
Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 6

 
      02-01-2009
ebony and ivory, the perfect color combo for the piano, but somtimes its nice to jazz your synth keys up a bit! i need some sugestions about how to color the keys on my board. on my alesis micron, i used a more.......shoddy approach. if you have ever chewed "5" gum u know that the gum wrappers are colored, and if you have super good finger dextarity, you can peel the allunuim and adhesive of the wax paper, 70 mins and 4 packs of gum later, i a nice chromatic red finish to my keys. this is OBVIOUSLY not a good way to add flare, because your fingers tear away the wrappers quite easy if your nails scrape them. Does anyone know of a good paint to use that can handle being played on everyday? i want to paint my Juno D keys to go along with the Brushed allunium that i put on it.
 
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Sausalito, CA & Ann Arbor, MI
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meisenhower's Avatar

 
      02-01-2009
Is this April 1 already?

If the gum wrapper method wasn't a joke, it should be. I don't mean any disrespect, but my first thought was "are you kidding"?

As for "coloring" your keys, maybe you should consider "backlighting" them. Not sure if there's enough room under the keybed to do this, but it might be worth looking into. That way you could change the color by changing the color of the bulb.

That would be a custom rig all the way.

 
Keyboards: Yamaha C7 Grand Piano, 1957 Hammond B3, Hammond XK3, Kawai MP9000 Stage Piano, Fender Rhodes 73 Mk1, Yamaha CP33 Stage Piano, Yamaha Motif ES, Nord Electro 2 Sixty One, Minimoog Voyager Electric Blue, Access Virus Ti Kbd, Korg MS10.

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Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 6

 
      02-01-2009
yeah, the gum wrappers was interesting, one day i got reallllllllllly bored, i was stuck at home watching tv, was just screwing around, forgot to write that i took them off after a 3 hour nap infront of the tv Lol, that was supposed to be a bit more comical, but i was typin fast
 
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Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 6

 
      02-01-2009
and ive always wanted to backlight keys, but lights need power, and i dont want to tap power from the synth because i dont wanna break anything, and a seprate power sorce is just impractical. im not really a "electroncics" person. ive bulit computers, but that completely diffrent, no sauldering, just plugs and stuff.
 
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Keyboard Addict
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Manchester, England.
Posts: 228
jpscoey's Avatar

 
      02-01-2009
If you are serious about this (I'm not convinced, though) then there are several
ways you could try - but in order to avoid causing permanent damage to the
instrument, each method would be very time-consuming and, in one instance, very
expensive.

I almost can't believe I'm writing this, but here goes...

1. (let's get the expensive one out of the way - things can surely only get better
after this!)... dismantle the entire keyboard & take the keys to a plastic moulding
company - requesting they make exact replicas in the colour(s) of your choice.
Then reassemble. Practical, eh?!!

2. Cover the keys individually with cut-to-shape thin coloured plastic.
Bear in mind that the edges of the keys are rounded for a reason. You would
have to file/sandpaper the edges. Again not an easy thing to do without
dismantling the keyboard.

3. Dye the keys (assuming the keys' shiny surface will accept the dye) using
something like food colouring.

4. Contact the manufacturer suggesting they offer this as an optional extra - much
like you'd choose the colour of your car.

5. Invest in a large quantity of LSD (if you haven't done so already)...
then the keys could be whatever colour you like!

For what it's worth those are my thoughts.

I'd be curious to see if there's anyone else mental enough to come up with other ideas!!!!

 
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Job: Professional Piano tuner/technician.
Keys -Nord : StageEX-88, Electro2-73. Hammond : XK1.
Korg : M3 XPanded -73, M50-88, X50, Kaoss KP3.
Yamaha : Motif XS7. Roland : SH-201. Kurzweil : K2000 vp.

Last edited by jpscoey; 02-02-2009 at 12:14 AM.. Reason: afterthought!
 
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Newbie
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 5

 
      02-01-2009
Color the white keys only...wear tinted glasses.
 
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Resident
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Flat old Nebraska
Posts: 29

 
      02-18-2009
Would it be absurd to dismantlr the keybed, then take the plastic keys themselves, give them several nice thin coats of finely mixed airbrush paint (if you are a modeler or Warmhammer figurinist) over a primer, then several laquer coats and a hard polycarbonate enamel finish?

Purple(White) on Lime green(Black) keys?
 
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