KRONOS REPLACEMENT TOUCH SCREEN UNAVAILABLE?????!!!!!

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:57 am

Believe it or not, some people do actually have the skills to do the job. Some people, in fact, have better skills than the service centers. Don't be so quick to dumb down the skills of the people that visit this forum. I totally agree, one considering this repair better know what they are doing.

phil55 · Post by **phil55** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 4:52 pm

lonelagranger wrote:Believe it or not, some people do actually have the skills to do the job. Some people, in fact, have better skills than the service centers. Don't be so quick to dumb down the skills of the people that visit this forum. I totally agree, one considering this repair better know what they are doing.

Exactly! Thank-you!

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 6:00 pm

StephenKay wrote:It's nice that so many people here apparently believe they have the skills to do such a repair; however, it puts me in mind of that old joke about the service center repair rates:

SERVICE REPAIR RATES:
$50 per hour
$75 per hour if you watch
$100 per hour if you tried to fix it first

If I mess it up that badly, then I guess I would deserve that. But here is my evidence towards some competency in the area, including hacking classic synths apart to improve their displays.

http://www.xfactory-librarians.co.uk/guides.html

--

Dan, thank you for your reply. If I took some things out of context or misunderstood some points, my apologies.

I reiterate that I am much happier fixing things myself, as I know (not apparently believe) I have the competency to do so (if not the service centre gets $100 P/H

), and if I can order parts that are speedily delivered, then the turnaround time is usually going to be quicker than the turnaround times associated with sending the board off to a repair centre.

I'd still like to think that if I need to order any part for this £2,500 investment, if it fails outside of warranty, that Korg would be able to supply it to me (at my risk if I fluff it) for a reasonable period of time after production ceases.

Hopefully I'll never have to do that, and we'll see what happens if it does!

StephenKay · Post by **StephenKay** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 6:30 pm

lonelagranger wrote:Don't be so quick to dumb down the skills of the people that visit this forum.

It was just a joke. Don't take it personally.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 7:04 pm

lonelagranger wrote:Believe it or not, some people do actually have the skills to do the job. Some people, in fact, have better skills than the service centers. Don't be so quick to dumb down the skills of the people that visit this forum. I totally agree, one considering this repair better know what they are doing.

sounds to me that people with those skills could profit greatly

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:23 pm

It was just a joke. Don't take it personally.

I wasn't referring to your post. That is why I didn't copy any of your message and point to it. I understand that you were just making a joke. I have no problem with that. I was referring to post along the way by people that keep saying everything has to be done at the service center. It is true if you want to keep your warranty. If not, then I am sure many people on this forum have the skills to troubleshoot and fix their gear.

I am sorry if my response offended you. I can understand how you might have taken it that way, but please be assured I was not referring specifically to you. You have done great work with all of the Korgs and I enjoy your Karma on my Kronos very much.

Davd C. Polich · Post by **Davd C. Polich** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 12:49 am

kshacklett wrote:If replacement touchscreens are available at authorized service centers, why was I not informed of this by the service manager at Korg USA? Why was I told by Korg USA that touchscreens were not available from the manufacturer and that Korg USA had no control over that situation? Why was I told by Korg USA that the touchscreen they offered to send me would be taken from an existing Kronos? Do not authorized Korg service centers in the USA procure their parts from Korg USA? Surely they can't get them from the manufacturer when Korg USA can't.

I have a strong feeling that this debacle was unavoidable by me, and that Korg really should improve their parts procurement and distribution.

Perhaps you were told by Korg USA (and you did not say exactly "when" they told you) that the parts were unavailable because at that time, the person you spoke to didn't know the parts were actually available. They might have "just come in the door" and weren't logged into inventory or something like that.

StephenKay · Post by **StephenKay** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 1:42 am

lonelagranger wrote:I am sorry if my response offended you. I can understand how you might have taken it that way, but please be assured I was not referring specifically to you. You have done great work with all of the Korgs and I enjoy your Karma on my Kronos very much.

Thanks!

No, it didn't offend me - that's why I put a smiley after it. But in any case - no problem.

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:19 am

Davd C. Polich wrote:
kshacklett wrote:If replacement touchscreens are available at authorized service centers, why was I not informed of this by the service manager at Korg USA? Why was I told by Korg USA that touchscreens were not available from the manufacturer and that Korg USA had no control over that situation? Why was I told by Korg USA that the touchscreen they offered to send me would be taken from an existing Kronos? Do not authorized Korg service centers in the USA procure their parts from Korg USA? Surely they can't get them from the manufacturer when Korg USA can't.

I have a strong feeling that this debacle was unavoidable by me, and that Korg really should improve their parts procurement and distribution.
Perhaps you were told by Korg USA (and you did not say exactly "when" they told you) that the parts were unavailable because at that time, the person you spoke to didn't know the parts were actually available. They might have "just come in the door" and weren't logged into inventory or something like that.

Equally, they could have been there all along, because sometimes the right hand does not know about the left hand, even in the era of computerised stock management.

OT a little, but a relevant example of a similar problem to Kerry's that I had with the motor industry...

Many years ago I had a failed water pump in a Vauxhall Cailbra and the car was off the road for three weeks because the parts were on "back order" from Bosch. And of course I was getting grumpy with the car being off the road just because of lack of a pump that would take an hour or two for me to fit. Even the Motor Factors in the area didn't have one

One day I rang Vauxhall yet again to complain, ended up with somebody different (yet again

) who told me that Vauxhall central parts still had no stock, but she then as an aside just happened to mention that other dealers did have stock, and a garage 30 miles away from me had a pump sitting on the shelf, but because they are in the dealer network, Vauxhall don't count such parts as stock they can give to somebody who has been waiting for three weeks!

Well after an initial explosion of ire, I think I controlled myself very well, and politely told her that that pump had better be at my dealer the following day or God help them. It was there the next day.

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:42 am

No, it didn't offend me - that's why I put a smiley after it. But in any case - no problem. Smile

Thank you. I didn't see the smiley face at first reading. I am 68 so we don't have to many smiley faces left -- just kidding. I feel great and happen to be part of this great forum.

You have a wonderful day.

ricorox · Post by **ricorox** » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:52 pm

Dan said "If Kerry had gone to an authorized service center, they would have been able to replace the screen quickly and easily. The difficulty arose from his pursuing an alternate approach; while I understand his reasoning for doing so, in this case the standard approach would have worked more smoothly."

My local Authorized Korg Service Center charges 50 bucks to to move your warranty repair to the "front of the line", or else it will take 4 or 5 weeks for them to even LOOK at it. Quickly and easily, indeed. I will have to pursue an alternate approach, or pay up for a "warranty" repair.[/quote]

danatkorg · Post by **danatkorg** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:32 am

ricorox wrote:Dan said "If Kerry had gone to an authorized service center, they would have been able to replace the screen quickly and easily. The difficulty arose from his pursuing an alternate approach; while I understand his reasoning for doing so, in this case the standard approach would have worked more smoothly."

My local Authorized Korg Service Center charges 50 bucks to to move your warranty repair to the "front of the line", or else it will take 4 or 5 weeks for them to even LOOK at it. Quickly and easily, indeed. I will have to pursue an alternate approach, or pay up for a "warranty" repair.

I can't speak for the turnaround time of your local service center (that sounds long to me; I would be interested to verify it, if you'd be willing to tell us which service center you're talking about), but I do certainly stand by my previous statement regarding Kerry's experience.

kshacklett · Post by **kshacklett** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 6:15 pm

Update: I received a whole assembly of LCD and touchscreen from Korg USA. This is an indication that they did indeed have to take the assembly from an existing unit, as the LCD and touchscreen were sold separately as replacement parts.

Having the whole assembly made it quick and easy to change out since I didn't have to remove the broken touchscreen from the LCD and stick the new one on. However, out of curiosity I removed the broken touchscreen from the old LCD anyway. It was extremely easy, despite what the guy in the youtube video went through, and a couple scary stories at this forum. All it took was a razor blade between and LCD and touchscreen, and about a minute to slice through the sticky foam "tape" that held them together. It was easy to avoid scratching the LCD by angling the blade away from it.

I can't imagine why I would need more than just a few very small dabs of contact cement around the edge of a screen to stick it back on..even without scraping off whatever sticky foam was left on the LCD. There seems to be nothing crucial at all about how the screen is attached other than protection against shock, of which the sticky foam offered very little.

Also, it is not necessary to remove the key bed on the 61. All I had to do was remove a small fan, loosen the little circuit board connected to the LCD from the chassis, and loosen the USB I/O board to get to the four screws that hold the LCD, and it came right out. Of course care must be taken not to damage anything while poking around in there, but this was one of the easier jobs (among many) I've done inside a keyboard.

I can now say with complete confidence that new replacement touch screens are NOT available from Korg or anyone else. The service manager at Korg USA has relayed that information to me, as well as two authorized service centers I have contacted, along with both of Korg's US parts distributors. I can't imagine anything more definitive than that. I've attached a screen shot of a parts list from Korg showing both the LCD and touchscreen as discontinued.

I honestly don't know how Korg USA could tolerate such a situation. They are surely Korg's largest distributor. The Kronos is Korg's flagship product and still in production. I mean, how hard would it be for the manufacturer to supply parts for product still in production? What, are they hoarding a supply of touch screens that are no longer in production? Are they only planning to produce a limited number of the Kronos, and they only have enough touchscreens for those units? What?

I just can't imagine a company disregarding their customers in this way. I wonder what Mr. Osanai would have thought of this situation.

<a href="http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/kshac ... a.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag3 ... 79cf0a.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo korg_zps8679cf0a.jpg"></a>

danatkorg · Post by **danatkorg** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 6:43 pm

I'm glad to hear that you have received your replacement touchscreen - and for free, too. It was good of Korg USA to go the extra mile to help you out.

lotty1 · Post by **lotty1** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 6:57 pm

Hedegaard wrote:
kshacklett wrote:Please...before I unload..someone tell me it's not true. Please tell me that my $3,000 keyboard is not now WORTHLESS because of an unethical or down right stupid decision by SOMEONE at Korg not to make an indispensable, easily breakable replacement part available for their current flagship keyboard.
Oh this is old news.
Exactly the same thing happened with the Oasys.
Many an Oasys user was p***ed off, but what can you do?
Its just how it is.

But funny how history repeats itself.
At least you guys paid cheap money for what Oasys users paid for their keyboard.

Before I bought my Kronos I took the time to read about the issue with the Oasys being ceased and all the unhappy oasys family. I thought this would never happen to me and my kronos but there you go.
But to be told that your not allowed to repair it and you have to send it to a repair centre because that's the only way you can get spare really take's the biscuit

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KRONOS REPLACEMENT TOUCH SCREEN UNAVAILABLE?????!!!!!

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