Changing the 209 keyboard with the 309 one

[ravishankar9992000]

Dear friends,

I am back again.
As you remember I got lots of problem with my cvp 209 expecially with the faulty keyboard in the past 5 years.
Yamaha has refused to change my factory faulty keyboard for 5 long years even though all other customers in the world with the same problem said they got the job done and more over they said that yamaha accepetd to change the 209 plastic keyboad with the 309 wood one.

Well after 5 long years under continuos threat of opening a court case and bringing the entire horrible story on the net as well as on the newspapers yamaha finally accepted to substitute the 209 keyboard.
Unfortunately, with my surprise, yamaha sent me the worst keyboard possible. A plastic one, with 5 faulty keys (so the technician had to exachange them with 5 other keys taken fron the already faulty keboard, funny isn't it?).

Not only this! The entire new keyboard behaves in a funny way.
Most of the keys (to not to say all of them) moves to an fro and side to side while playing!
The new keyboard is a fake, untouchable, unpleasant and not fit for any professional use. It seems to me as if I am playing on a children casio keyboard.
I am not exagerating telling so and the yamaha technician is very aware of it, but unfortunately he did noyt report any of these trouble to the yamaha company.
Well, maybe because I live in India and here everybody behave in a funny and quite often umpleasant way (the technician himself broke one of the new keys and did not report it to yamaha: what a lovely person! Besides he scratched both sides of my ebony polished cabinet and did not report this as well: whao! Yamaha in India has so nice technicians).

Well it's not over!
I reported the whole story to yamaha international customer service and tehy replied that IT'S IMPOSSIBLE THAT OTHER GUYS HAD THE CVP 209 KEYBOARD SUBSTITUTED WITH THE 309 WOOD ONE!
THE 309 KEYBOARD DO NOT FIT THE CVP 209!
Well guys, is that really true?
I just remember that most of you got a 309 keyboard as a substitute of the 209 one, is it correct?
Please, anyone of you who got this particular substitution done, leave your name and I will post them to yamaha international as my last chance.

Thanks to all of you to listen patiently to my problems, I am very sorry to have bothered you with my story, but this forum is the only solution to make yamaha moving.

Last thing to all India customers: Beware, there is no real customer assistance in India! Once you purchase your cvp know that you will be left all alone!
There is only one single technician all over India and he stays in Bombay. If you live in any part of India other than Bombay it's not safe to purchasae any of the cvp. This technician will ask you an exorbitantly amount of money, plus you have to pay him first class train or air ticket (not only to him but to his wife as well) plus hotel expenses and whatsoever. In the end you can purchase a brand new CME UF 88 hammer action portable keyboard (600 US $) and still save some money!
All other technicians are fake! I had to instruct myself the supposed yamaha technician of Bangalore on how to open my cvp and put the keys in the right way. At that time the technician was trying to read live the technical manual right from my laptop. He did not know at all the inner structure of my cvp 209.
So guys do not waste your money and tell to everybody out there that yamaha india is a fake (at least for that concern the cvps).

See you online guys

Ravi

[tomz17]

If I recall correctly, the replacement keyboards are supposed to be plastic. I don't believe anyone has gotten a wooden replacement for a 200 series. Your technician may be right about a GH3 wooden keyboard not fitting into the 209.

-Tom

[ravishankar9992000]

Thank you for your answer but I did some reasearch in the forum archives and found some guys who got the job done.

http://www.cvpug.com/forums/showthread.php?t=824

Mine (on a 209) was also replaced free of charge with a 300-series keyboard, after I had broken a number of keys on various occasions. It's been great ever since. I don't know if they had a particular manufacturing run that had a defect or what. Perhaps we should take a poll here to see how prevalent the problem is.
__________________by CLAVINOVAGUY
Registered User


Just a note on the resolution of my CVP-207 stuck keys.

I had to wait while Yamaha sent a 300-series keyboard from Japan to the service person. It took a couple of weeks, but fortunately I my keyboard was (mostly) operable during that time.

The service guy just left here a few minutes ago. It took him about 90 minutes to do the service call. The hardest part was for him to find the screws to open the top. I guess he doesn't work on many 200-series Clavinovas.

Yamaha USA picked up the cost of both the keyboard (under warranty) and the labor -- not under warranty, but they honorably decided to pay for it anyway.

The new keyboard's feel is definitely different. I like the quieter keys. It was interesting that a sticker has to be placed next to the serial number, which indicates the keyboard was replaced. I guess this is so they don't do it twice!

When I looked at the old keyboard, I could not see any visible cracks on my sticking keys. But I did not take the keys off -- just looked from above and underneath. The old keyboard had to be shipped back to Yamaha (by the service guy), I guess to prove that it really was replaced.

__________________by lasershow2000
Registered User


Here in the Parts and Repair forum is another thread entitled "Faulty key on CVP 207", about certain keys sticking then failing, due to cracks in the key. Because the problem starts with the same keys (B below middle C, E above middle C) and because a number of people have reported this, it sounds like a manufacturing defect.

I believe Yamaha will fix it for free. I believe they will replace the entire keyboard with a 300-series keyboard, and they will pay for parts and labor even if the Clavinova is out of warranty.

Here is my story (condensed!):

In November 2004, the keys on my CVP-207 began to stick in the same way as described in the "Faulty key on CVP 207" thread. I contacted Yamaha service (800-854-1569, opt 2, opt 4). I told them my Clavinova was purchased at a U.S. dealer about 2.5 years ago. (Warranty is 5 years on parts, 1 year on labor.) They checked my serial number to confirm a U.S. purchase, and said to get service through the dealer.

I contacted the dealer-recommended service person. I told him I wanted a replacement 300-series keyboard, not just fixing a few keys. (Others reported that additional keys started to fail, after the first few.) I also said I felt Yamaha should pay the labor since a keyboard failing so soon and on so many other users' CVPs sounds like a manufacturer's defect.

He ordered the keyboard but said I'd have to pay labor. I called Yamaha back and got the service supervisor. She said Yamaha would pay for the service, no problem.
So in conclusion, if you have the sticking-then-failing keys on the 200-series, and you purchased from a dealer in the U.S., I believe you can get a replacement 300-series keyboard at no charge to you. This makes sense if the keys were indeed defective in design or manufacture. If you run into any problems with your local service person, take it up with Yamaha service. I found everyone there to be very nice and understanding.

__________________by -- Patrick
Registered User


Well, I am very disappointed that use of my CVP-209 has been hindered over the past several months due to broken keys. (D&E above middle C and more...)

I am very glad to hear that Yamaha is respondong favorably to these complaints and replacing the keyboards with the CVP-3XX version. I am really not interested in replacing the keys as there is obviously some engineering defect.

Please keep sharing your stories with regard to this problem. I have opened a case with Yamaha Service and will keep you posted.


Philadelphia Suburbs

I miss my Clav!!

__________________by mboyceusa
Registered User


Dear frirends, if anyone of you got the 2xx keyboard changed with the 3xx series let me know. I will be very grateful to anyone of you!

Ravi

[tomz17]

Thank you for your answer but I did some reasearch in the forum archives and found some guys who got the job done.


Yamaha is definitely replacing 2xx keyboards with 3xx keyboards for free, but to my knowledge nobody has gotten a wooden 3xx keyboard. Someone more knowledgeable than me would have to chime in and tell you if it's even possible to put a wooden 3xx keyboard into a 2xx clavinova. In either case, I seriously doubt Yamaha would give you the wooden keyboard replacement for free.

-Tom

[ravishankar9992000]

Well, I supposed that all the 3xx series keyboard would have made in wood only!
By the way I did not get my 2xx keyboard replaced with a 3xx one! (plasitc or not)
I got something different! A keyboard with no specification and of a lowest quality possible and according to yamaha technician it could be very probably a second hand one!
SHAME UPON YAMAHA!

[tomz17]

Well, I supposed that all the 3xx series keyboard would have made in wood only!
By the way I did not get my 2xx keyboard replaced with a 3xx one! (plasitc or not)
I got something different! A keyboard with no specification and of a lowest quality possible and according to yamaha technician it could be very probably a second hand one!
SHAME UPON YAMAHA!


Who else makes keyboards that would physically fit and electronically interface with a Yamaha CVP???

[ravishankar9992000]

I meant that of course I got a cvp keyboard as a replacement but not at all the 3xx series one and this is the yamaha technician himself who has confirmed so!
He said: "This is not at all the 3xx series keyboard and it seems of a second hand"
By the way it came all faulty and yamaha refused to send me a good one!
I told to yamaha "I want what I paid for!"
The 2xx seies was having only one key stuck and one more was starting to slower down, but the new keyboard came with already 5 faulty keys, all other major keys slipping fron side to side and to and fro and moreover most of the keys (expecially the black ones) DO NOT RESPOND PROPERLY TO A FAST PIANO PLAYING! They are quite slow in returning to the original position as soon as played thus limiting tremendously the ability of executing any fast tempo songs.
The background of the 2xx series keyboard is somehow copper type, but the one I got in substitution is alluminium type.
Last but not the least, I have been avoiding to purchase any of the early cvp because I did not like at all the the touch feeling: it remembered me an electronic synthetizer other than a grand piano.
Lastly I had the chance to play on a cvp 209 and found that the technological level reached by yamaha was amazing expecially because I could not find anymore a real difference between playing on a digital piano or on an acoustic one. That's why I decided to purchase a cvp 209.
Now, with the new keyboard I got in substitution, I have the same feeling of playing on a synhtetizer! No grand piano feeling, no smoothness and you know what? All keys are emitting a clear plastic sound as soon as you touch them while the 2xx series keyborad was as smooth as velvet!

I don't know why yamaha has done this to me, but I think it's time for a court case and to pass all my story to the press, seen that yamaha is reluctant to repair in a proper way to its mistakes!