Turtlerock Forum

I was at someones place yesterday looking to buy a guitar amp and spotted that they had an Ensoniq ESQ-1 , 1988 dated plastic cased type sitting there...they said it has not been played in years, fitted with an E2 prom cartridge...anyhow got it for $100.
Needs a replacement battery..no big deal..there is a block of 8 keys not working and two other keys not working.
Have not looked looked at schematics yet but I would suspect that the block of 8 keys not working should be easy enough to track down the cause for why they are not working and the other keys I suspect are bad contacts.
Had a quick look inside and it looks quite clean and no obvious corroded pcb tracks.
I would like to get this restored and have a bit of a play with it then turn it over.
Any one suggest a keyboard tech in Brisbane that could help with this if it gets beyond my capabilities?
Cheers,
Noel

Before you take it to a tech...

-Take apart the keyboard pcb.
-Inspect closely the pcb tracks.. Look for a track that has blistered slightly.
-Get a multimeter set to continuity and measure all the tracks (ie from solder lug to solder lug) to verify they are good.

I had a D50 that had a bunch of keys out, and the track that had corroded looked ok visually, but failed the meter test. After it failed, I scraped away the tracks coating, and it was green corroded copper underneath.. Prob someone's lemonade 5 years ago

try replacing the ribbon cable. The ESQ-1 I used to own came with a set of 8 dead keys, and the old ribbon cable looked a bit too bent/creased for my liking... A new ribbon cable fixed it.

battery is not too hard to replace if you can solder, but make sure you get the right replacement part. there's info online if I remember correctly.