Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junkpile

...well, actually a few days ago, but resurrected it today.

Discovered an old Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard on top of a pile of rubbish when walking into the town centre a few days ago - couldn't really do anything then though as I was about to be spending a whole day walking around - so had to leave it. Came back three days alter though - and discovered that because it hadn't been bagged, the rubbish collectors hadn't taken it. So I grabbed it, full of water and muddier than my car, and took it home. Then left it in the bath for three days to drain.

Dismantling it (How many screws?!?) I found that all that had happened was that someone had decided that rather than cleaning a dirty power supply jack, they'd ram the plug in as hard as they could, cracking off that corner of the circuit board. Five minutes with a couple of bits of wire and a SolderPro 50 soldering iron, I had those tracks bypassed, and the 'board working again, good as new!

Now all it needs is a good clean, and a new cap on the arm of the power switch slider. Still works though, just doesn't have a little plastic thing on....not really a great problem.

Have wanted a keyboard since the age of five - and ironically, this is exactly the model they used at my school where I had a very small introduction to the joys of playing it. Now I can actually try to learn how to play.

Never good to see a musical instrument junked, especially when no effort has obviously been made to sort it. Still, this 'board is going to have a good home from now on. Think I did my bit today by resurrecting this.

So what if it was launched in 1990, and can be vastly outclassed by many things nowadays, it's still a musical instrument, it still works great, and it's mine!

...Now, where on earth am I gonna put it???

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

There's always something spectacular about salvaging something from the dust bin. I did the same thing with a pants press I found - just had a dirty timer motor.

Congratulations!

Cheers,
Bob

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

It's true though, that is is astonishing what some people will throw out. Especially when they do so without doign anything to salvage it. Total time and expense to sort this was around 25 minutes including dismantling and reassembly of the case (AND turning the room upside down looking for a 9V adaptor), and about £0.10 of wire.

Still, in this case I'm not complaining!

Was a good reason for me to buy a new soldering iron though (mine died a few weeks ago, was about 20 years older than me!), and having now used it a couple of times, have to say that I think the Iroda SolderPro 50 is a really nifty little thing. Always thought the idea of a gas powered soldering iron was wierd, but seems to work well in practice. Heats up near instantly, is smaller, lighter and more powerful than my old one (30-70W rather than fixed 25W), and runs for a decent amount of time on a fill. Single best thing though: No darn cables to get in the way or pull it off the stand when you put it down!

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

If I remember, I found a laser disk drive in the dustbin many years ago, and was not able to find anything wrong with it.
Best guess here is that the previous owner had a bad disk and didn't even bother to try another one before throwing it away.
To this day, I still have it, and there's still nothing wrong with it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Glad the dustman didn't get it!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

i am ok at fixing stuff i used to get garbage a lot had a deep freezer i found in the garbage ounce had bad thermstat used it long time

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

Man, did this thread "ever strike a chord"!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Several weeks ago, I was dropping off the recycle stuff and saw a Yamaha PSR-76 sitting by the dumpster. It was raining, I thought "what the heck, probably won't work - but maybe I can salvage some parts out of it".

I forgot I even had it till I read this post. Just went and dug it out of the garage, put 6 D cells in it...IT WORKS!! Someone took a permanent marker and wrote the musical scale on the keys...so! Heck, after having fun with it - maybe I'll throw it in a garage sale! I love it when people throw away good junk! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yep, needs cleaned up...but gee Zelandeth, thanks for "ringing a bell" in my head!

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

A little off subject, but yesterday I bought a sony slv-r1000 video editing vcr at a garage sale for 10$, a 99% discount off retail!! Sweet!!

Re: Rescued a Yamaha PSR-19 keyboard from the junk

the stereo that I use to run the speakers in here I got in a junk pile one evening like 12 or more years ago /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Needed a new fuse on the left channel and then it's been fine ever since. It's not exactly fancy or pretty but it works just fine to just plug the computer into to listen to iTunes!

Always excellent to have a walk through nice neighborhoods on the evening prior to trash day /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif