Farfisa Repair
J Gonzales
I used to do a lot of electronic repairs for myself via a strictly heuristic
problem solving approach. In other words, I am not an EE, but I figured out
tube amps and power supplies, etc.
Anyway, I got this Farfisa and the C tone generator is not functioning.
There is only one tech in my town willing to take it on for an affordable
fee -- and I really don't want to spend the time. Problem: he says he
cannot locate a replacement germanium transistor or two. I did a cursory
search of eBay and see that there are plenty being sold there.
Anybody have any other sources for these? Are there ways to get silicon
transistors to work in these things without a complete reworking of the PS?
Any other tips?
I want this thing to work, but maybe I should just cut my losses...
It is not worth $300 for me to fix.
JG
Ben Bradley
>Hey,
>
>I used to do a lot of electronic repairs for myself via a strictly heuristic
>problem solving approach. In other words, I am not an EE, but I figured out
>tube amps and power supplies, etc.
>
>Anyway, I got this Farfisa and the C tone generator is not functioning.
I've owned a couple of Farfisa's, from ca. late '60's and early
'70's, they had silicon transistors in them. Apparently yours is even
older.
If nothing is coming out of any of the C's that narrows it down to
the oscillator, which generates the highest note. THe problem is most
likely the transistor next to the tuning coil, with its base and
collector going to different windings on it.
>There is only one tech in my town willing to take it on for an affordable
>fee -- and I really don't want to spend the time. Problem: he says he
>cannot locate a replacement germanium transistor or two. I did a cursory
>search of eBay and see that there are plenty being sold there.
>
>Anybody have any other sources for these? Are there ways to get silicon
>transistors to work in these things without a complete reworking of the PS?
There should be (except in the highly improbable event that the
power supply puts out a very low 0.5 volts), it should at most only
take fiddling with the values of one or two bias resistors to make a
silicon transistor work in the circuit. But then that's electronic
design, something that techs rarely do.
I'd just go ahead and replace it with a silicon transistor of the
correct polarity and see what happens. Depending on how the circuit
biases the transisor, it might work.
>Any other tips?
>
>I want this thing to work, but maybe I should just cut my losses...
>
>It is not worth $300 for me to fix.
Who's quoting $300 to fix it? No, don't answer that...they're just
saying they don't want to mess with it. You'd think component-level
repair on discrete transistor devices was a lost art...
>JG
Scott Dorsey
>>fee -- and I really don't want to spend the time. Problem: he says he
>>cannot locate a replacement germanium transistor or two. I did a cursory
>>search of eBay and see that there are plenty being sold there.
>>
>>Anybody have any other sources for these? Are there ways to get silicon
>>transistors to work in these things without a complete reworking of the PS?
>
> There should be (except in the highly improbable event that the
>power supply puts out a very low 0.5 volts), it should at most only
>take fiddling with the values of one or two bias resistors to make a
>silicon transistor work in the circuit. But then that's electronic
>design, something that techs rarely do.
This is just a relaxation oscillator, but the sound will change if you
do this.
ECG can get Japanese germanium semiconductors which are usually close
enough for the job. Might not be exact, but it is probably close enough
match from the book that it will sound the same.
If you can give me the exact number I can see what I have in the box, but
unfortunately the European parts are hard enough to find in this country
even in Silicon.
> Who's quoting $300 to fix it? No, don't answer that...they're just
>saying they don't want to mess with it. You'd think component-level
>repair on discrete transistor devices was a lost art...
Doesn't anyone still have a local TV repair place?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
Tim Huskisson
organs (such as Farfisa) in 'part-exchange' on new products.
We ALWAYS scrap organs of this vintage unless they are Hammond M100's and
the like.
The cost of repair to these instruments outways the actual value of the
organs having 'book price' trade-in values ranging from £0 to about £20 !
I was therefore intrigued that maybe things are different across the
Atlantic and maybe some would be horrified if they knew of some of the old
Lowrey and Gulbranson organs (as examples) that we regularly take down to
the tip!
Best regards
Tim Huskisson
Bryson
germaniums, SFT***, or NKT***, I can't remember. If they're what you need, I'll
pull 'em for you.
Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
> Doesn't anyone still have a local TV repair place?
Ah the good old days. My dad was a TV repairman, and I was recently looking at
some of his old '60s call books in mom's garage. An in home service call was $5
for b&w, and $7 for a color set (like changing a tube was different on a color
set).
Tim Bryson
>
>
Scott Dorsey
Bryson <red...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>What are the part numbers? I've got a VOX Jaguar (parts) organ loaded with
>germaniums, SFT***, or NKT***, I can't remember. If they're what you need, I'll
>pull 'em for you.
If anyone has any 2N1414s, I'd appreciate a couple. Otherwise I'm gonna
have to hand-select some more generic types for beta, and I don't want to
do that if I can help it.
>Ah the good old days. My dad was a TV repairman, and I was recently looking at
>some of his old '60s call books in mom's garage. An in home service call was $5
>for b&w, and $7 for a color set (like changing a tube was different on a color
>set).
That's pretty good, considering how much color sets cost back then....
david gourley
>If anyone has any 2N1414s, I'd appreciate a couple. Otherwise I'm gonna
>have to hand-select some more generic types for beta, and I don't want
>to do that if I can help it.
>
http://www.acksupply.com has about 5 (but 'you can order more') for $1.70
ea.
david
Chris Hornbeck
>If you can give me the exact number I can see what I have in the box, but
>unfortunately the European parts are hard enough to find in this country
>even in Silicon.
Yeah, post the numbers; I'll look too. Got some pretty old stuff
around. Yours if you can use 'em.
Chris Hornbeck, Guyville
guyville{at}aristotle{dot}net
Bryson
Scott Dorsey wrote:
> In article <3C98D8CF...@earthlink.net>,
> Bryson <red...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >What are the part numbers? I've got a VOX Jaguar (parts) organ loaded with
> >germaniums, SFT***, or NKT***, I can't remember. If they're what you need, I'll
> >pull 'em for you.
BTW, they are SFT 351 (pnp) on the VOX osc. boards.
>
>
> If anyone has any 2N1414s, I'd appreciate a couple. Otherwise I'm gonna
> have to hand-select some more generic types for beta, and I don't want to
> do that if I can help it.
I'll check my n.o.s. for those.
>
Tim
James Perrett
While the wood veneer covered home organs are often worthless the
Farfisa and Vox portable organs are certainly sought after in the UK.
You need to find a few musicians into the 60's garage band or
psychedelic scenes.
Cheers.
James.
J Gonzales
call back from my tech who will provide me with the part number.
Best,
J Gonzales
"James Perrett" <j...@soc.soton.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:3C9A094B...@soc.soton.ac.uk...
J Gonzales
RAY Y363 (Raytheon)
AC 134 (RCA maybe).
Thanks all,
J Gonzales
MM
Interesting about Farfisa. I have a Farfisa Professional Piano that
works fine,(after tinkering) but is missing 3 adjacent white keys.
Would anybody know where I can find. I'm not a tech but with no
repair budget and nothing to loose I will attempt repair myself.
Thanks in advance.
MM
Scott Dorsey
Nope, they list only the SK3004 substitute part, which isn't even close.
I'm delighted to see Ack is still in business, though... I used to buy
from them all the time when I was a grad student.
Paolo Tramannoni
> Interesting about Farfisa. I have a Farfisa Professional Piano that
> works fine,(after tinkering) but is missing 3 adjacent white keys.
> Would anybody know where I can find. I'm not a tech but with no
> repair budget and nothing to loose I will attempt repair myself.
If it's not too old, maybe the keyboard was made by Fatar. If you are in
the USA, you may try contacting their distributor:
http://www.musicindustries.com/
Farfisa no longer exists, but the former owner of the brand was
Bontempi. Maybe they can help you:
Best regards,
Paolo
--
Paolo Tramannoni
Porto Recanati, Italy