From k2mojo@groovedaddies.com Tue Dec 16 11:09:59 2003
Subject:RE: Breaking keys

Perhaps Keith Emerson's penchant for stabbing his Hammond with knives was
some sort of payback for an earlier wound inflicted on him by his keyboard.
Seriously, it has often been brought to my attention that my playing
style(?) is less than milquetoast and I have managed to break many a key
over the last 30 years. Early on I broke enough Fender Rhodes tines to pay
for a whole new piano. Over the years I've broken keys on my Hammond C3, a
Hohner D6, a MultiMoog, a Kurzweil SP88 and a Casio CZ-1000 - and I'm not
bragging about it because frankly it's always a pain in the ass to replace a
key, but I've just always figured it came with the territory. Lately, I've
been breaking keys, but just the black keys, on my Roland RS-9 (which I only
use as a controller); eleven of them so far. If you could see one of these
keys and the stingy amount of plastic allotted where the key hinges, it
would be obvious that it was just not engineered that well. Obvious to
everyone but Roland who claims I'm the only one who keeps breaking keys and
that it's not a known problem. Funny, they have plenty of spares they're
happy to sell me at $5 a pop.

Ed Fliege
k2mojo@groovedaddies.com
www.groovedaddies.com

> I've never broken a synth or piano key, BUT I have broken Hammond
> keys in my rock and roll days. It has to do with getting carried away
> by the roar of the Hammond, the thunder of the band, the > elevator of choice here>, the pretty girls eying you...
>
> A Hammond key break is always an exciting thing. It invariably
> happens when you do a big dramatic palm and forearm smear from bottom
> to top. Ah, but is the Hammond intimidated? Au contraire - the key
> stub with its razor sharp point, now unrestrained by the front lip,
> juts up in deadly fashion to slice your entire forearm open as it
> passes. You then make your blood sacrifice to the Hammond.
>
> Makes me nostalgic
>
> Moe
> http://www.hotrodmotm.com
>
> > I
> > have to confess to never breaking a key on a quality keyboard even
> > during the most balls-to-the-wall (old expression) full volume live
> > performance, and cant relate to how some players manage that - some
> > even brag on it ...I don't get it.