Elex K2

April 6, 2025

Many years ago – around 2009 – I purchased a broken Elex K2 Electric Piano. I got it basically for free since nobody seemed to want those kind of instruments at that time.

If I remember correctly, I got it somewhat working back then, but it wasn't reliable. Also, it is quite big, heavy and, limited in its sound.

Further reading

If you are interested in more details about the Elex K2, go and have a look at Zen & the Art of Synthesiser Maintenance. You will find a very in detail and well written repair documentation and the original schematics as pdf.

The current condition of my K2

Unfortunately, the instrument is in a very bad condition. Not only does it not work, the wooden enclosure is slowly braking apart.

The Enclosure

Most of the parts are made out of chipboard, and are slowly dissolving. The vinyl leather is peeling off everywhere and basically falling apart when being touched. There is a grayish-white substance covering most part of the front and top-cover.

Almost all of the metal fittings have severe rust on them.

What you can't see on the pictures is how this instrument smells. It is mostly ok from the outside, but really hits you when it is open, and you sit in front of it. I don't know how to describe it, but believe me, you would not want this in your living room, studio, or anywhere near you.

Even if the condition of the material would have benn better, the build quality was not the best to begin with. Internally it seems like they just used whatever wood was lying around, cut out some pieces and glued them together. Also, the silkscreen print on the front panel is a bit blurry.

The thick wood panels and internal steel frame make it extremely heavy. It's bulky and hard to move around with just the one handle in the front.

The Keyboard

All of the springs and horizontal bars are covered in some sort ov black corrosion.

The keys themselves where also quite dirty. If you wander how dirty, below is a picture of the change in water colour after only 15 minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner:

Those keys are not clean yet, but at least I can touch them without wanting to immediately wash my hands afterwords.

The Electronics

When I tried to turn it on, I saw a short flash from the power supply. It looks like both fuses blew at the same time

At least visually, the electronics looks ok. There are no signs of corrosion on the PCBs or components.

The Plan

As I would like to preserve at least some parts of this instrument, I decided to remove and keep the electronics.

The enclosure however will be thrown away. Its condition is simply too bad to be saved. I was considering to rebuild it with new wood, but I would still have to repair the key-contacts, and it's still a very limited instrument for its size and weight.

So, I decided to repair the electronics, make it MIDI controllable and repackage it as something like a 19-inch rack unit.

I will continue to write about this process here if I ever find the time to actually do it.