Vox Jaguar Repair Pt. 1 of 3 - Servicing the Keyboard
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- This is video 1 of a 3-part video series, showing my efforts in repairing a 1960's-era Vox Jaguar electronic organ. In part 1, we disassemble the unit and clean up the keyboard contacts and key bushings.
Special Thanks to my amazing wife for being so supportive of me and my oddball hobbies, and to my daughters for putting up with all the noises and equipment filling up our den space.
Here are some links that I think will be helpful to others who are interested in repairing these wonderful vintage instruments:
www.voxshowroom...
North Coast Music hosts this website, and it has an enormous amount of information about the various Vox Continental models, as well as the Jaguar, the Corinthian, and the Baroque.
www.vintagevib...
Vintage Vibe has some parts for Vox organs, as well as parts for other electric keyboards including the Hohner Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and Wurlitzer.
www.combo-orga...
A good repository for technical how-to’s and repair pointers & tips. Mostly text-based, and chock-full of useful information for DIY-ers.
NOTE: The above links are included for informational purposes only.
GREAT work. I was given one of these and some of the bass keys don't work, your explanation is invaluable. This will be a great winter project. Cheers.
Thank you for sharing
Will create midi upgrade for this vox and available on reverb soon
Picked up one of these for super cheap a few years back because it wasn't working well. Wish this video was made back then! I ended up having to do 100% of the repairs you went through but through trial and error and just poking around. Great stuff. Thank you for this.
Glad to help! Yeah, I agree that there aren't enough videos with actual, substantial repair information. So many of them are there simply to show off the gear (and I admit, those videos are fun to watch!). My goal is to document the trial-and-error process that I myself went through, so that other people may have an easier time down the road. These organs are great, but they're not getting any younger, so we'll need even more people who know how to do the maintenance and TLC from here on out!
Thanks for making this video, and sharing resources in the comments. I’ve got a Welson hobby organ with similar issues and I’ve never worked on a this sort of technology before...it’s always nice to see someone else open up something similar before taking the plunge.
Glad I could help! These projects are challenging for the hobbyist (like myself), but are very rewarding in the end. Just take your time, do plenty of research, get familiar with the schematics, and stick with it, even if it's discouraging sometimes. Once you get it fixed, you'll feel a wonderful sense of accomplishment. On top of that, you'll have a really cool musical instrument that's actually operational!
Thanks so much for making this video, making a restoration of my vox baroque right now. There’s not a lot of info on these anywhere so I hope I can get to the finish line, but it’s already in pretty good condition.
Glad to be of help! I also noticed there's not a lot of info on these old Vox organs, especially the somewhat-lesser-known models like the Jaguar. So I figured I'd contribute to the hive mind by adding some videos as I repaired it. Good luck with your Baroque, I hope the restoration goes well!
It has a great stand, contained in a separate suit case for the z- keg stands and the chrome cross bars
Yes indeed! The one I repaired did not include the stand, it was long gone before the current owner ever got hold of it. In the videos, I have it on a regular old keyboard stand, and that works fine. Those z-leg chrome stand assemblies look really good, and it must be nice to have the ability to store the stand within the cover of the organ during transport.
Initially that hard putty when I installed it was light gray, and fairly easy to squeeze onto the coil spring .53 years later, it wants to ossify.
Exactly. I told the owner about how I didn't bother replacing the putty. He and I are buddies, so if it ever gives him problems due to that issue, he'll let me know and I'll address it then. To date, no problems yet . . . so far, so good!
I picked up a Thomas P350 the other day for next to nothing. Had a few dead notes and notes that I discovered were shorting across both rails causing not just that note to crackle and cut out but all other notes played at same time too.
Cleaned up the rails without removing them using isopropyl on a cotton bud and then looked at those metal leaf contacts with the wire loop at the end. Some of those seemed to be flexing back too much and causing the short. Putty was partially missing on some of those. Seem to have fixed it using blu-tac as a non permanent and hence reversible replacement for the putty. Seems to work.
Regarding the capacitors for my Jaguar: I got 4.7uf 50v...which was the closest I could find. Just noticed others being referred to as "polarized", and it looks like what I got may not be polarized...does it matter? They also "stand up" as opposed to what's on the card which lay horizontal. I'm probably stressing too much, but I don't want to screw up my keyboard...wish I could add a photo of them...Thanks again for your help!
Hi, all the bass keys on my Jaguar suddenly stopped making sound one day. The regular organ sound works fine when the bass chords tab is on but there's no sound when bass chords is off. Is there a transistor responsible for the low bass sound? I have already replaced all the electrolytic capacitors and everything was working fine for years. Great videos by the way, I just watched them all.
Hi there! Well, I'd say check out my video #2 of 3, in which I deal with the monophonic bass keyboard trigger clean-up, as well as the module that produces the 'C' note and the low bass notes, but it sound like you've already watched them. I'm afraid I can't give much specific advice apart from what I've shown in the video, as I've already returned the organ to its owner. As I understand it, that 'C' module also produces all the low bass notes (it's monophonic), so I'd recommend starting there. Actually, no: I'd recommend starting at the ladder of contacts for the bass note, seen at around 9:45 on this video #1 of 3. Good luck!
@@markbeebe4388 Yes, I will start there and have a look at the bass key contacts. Thank you, Mark ✌️
Great video! Any idea what that treble busbar is made out of? I have a repair in which the bus is completely missing. Ground bus is still there but not that black one
Thanks! I'm honestly not sure what it's made of. My guess is that it's probably a steel bar coated with some kind of carbon coating or something. Unfortunately, I don't have the organ anymore so I can't really check it: I returned it to its owner after completing this video. Sorry!
I don't have the original ac power cable. How can I convert to a newer style 3 prong socket and compatible power cord?
It's pretty straightforward, just figure out which of the wires goes to the smaller of the two prongs, that's the "hot" lead, and connect that wire to the lead that hits the fuse in the power supply. The other wire is the neutral, connect that to the other current-carrying lead from the transformer. Then you'll take the ground wire (probably green) and find a place on the chassis where it can connect, like a screw or something. And you're done. Watch part 3 of my video series, it's got some good visuals of the power supply module. Good luck!
I'm trying to get under the keys to clean the contacts. This video makes it look like all you have to do is swing the keys section up, as there is a hinge on the back. It looks really easy in the video, but being as my unit hasn't been opened in some 50 + years, it seems stuck and I don't want to pull on the keys themselves and risk them bending/breaking. I don't see any screws or attachments that might be holding it down, but I want to make sure there's nothing there before I start using some force. Hopefully, someone will be able to reply sooner than later...
Hi there! Yes, there are screws holding it down. I skipped that part when I made this video a few years ago, my apologies. The screws can be found on the underside of the unit. There should be 3 or maybe 4 of them all in a line, close to the front of the unit but probably 2-3 inches away from the front edge. Remove those screws, and then the keyboard should lift up easily. Good call on not forcing it, thank you for treating these old instruments with good respect!
@@markbeebe4388 Yeah, late last night it hit me that I didn't look at the underside. worked like a charm. Now to try and clean the contacts to get rid of the crunchy sounds when I hit the keys, plus my high C has no volume at all. Also, vibrato switch no longer works. Hopefully I can figure out how to get under that and maybe a cleaning there will get it to work. I will also continue to watch parts 2 and 3 of your excellent video. Thank You for your help as well!!!
any idea where i could find the springs attached to the keys? i have 2 that are bent
Hi there. I believe the key springs and bushings are the same as what one would find on a Clavinet, as the keybeds were sourced from the same manufacturer. I did a search for “Clavinet key spring” and found a couple of sites. One was sold out of their stock, but this one appears to have them, you just have to choose the quantity from the pull down menu: store.clavinet.com/Key-Springs_p_21.html Good luck!
Well this repair looks to be beyond the scope of my abilities, and simply don't have the time. Seems every time I turn it on, it does something different. I'm in New Jersey, and would be willing to part with it, but shipping doesn't seem to make sense. Anyone know who in the NJ area might be interested?
I'm a member of a Vintage Synths & Keyboards Repairs group on Facebook. I'll put out a request and see if anyone can give pointers for someone in the NJ vicinity who can work on it. Me, I'm in Houston, so I'm far from ideally located.
A fellow on the FB group offered the following:
“Three Waves Music in northern NJ repairs a lot of vintage gear. Perhaps he could talk with them.”
@@markbeebe4388 Three Waves Music didn't sound interested, so I managed to get everything working on my own except for the vibrato switch. Since I'm really new at this I'm wondering where you got your capacitors? I did a search online and what I found looked nothing like the ones you replaced. Are they available at a Home Depot type of place or would it need to be an electronics type of place? Where did you get yours from? Any specifics would be greatly appreciated!
Hi there! I’m really glad you’ve been successful so far, well done indeed! For the capacitors, I’m fortunate that there’s an electronic parts outlet here in Houston, and I get probably 70% of my replacement capacitors there. When they don’t have what I need, I usually order from Mouser.com, which almost always has what I need. For real oddball capacitors, sometimes I get lucky and find something reasonably close to what I need by searching through forums, amplifier repair websites, old radio repair websites, eBay, etc.
Don’t worry too much if the new capacitors are smaller than the old ones, or if they look a bit different. That’s typical: contemporary capacitors are usually quite a bit smaller than ones from the 1960’s and 1970’s, especially the electrolytic kind. As long as they have similar capacitance, are rated for the same voltage or higher, and will physically fit into the same space as the old ones, they should work fine.
Good luck!!
@@markbeebe4388 I just ordered 4.7uf 50v...which was the closest I could find. Just noticed others being referred to as "polarized", and it looks like what I got may not be polarized...does it matter? They also "stand up" as opposed to what's on the card which lay horizontal. I'm probably stressing too much, but I don't want to screw up my keyboard...Thanks again for your help!