Farfisa FAST 4 Restoration

[smashguy37]

I picked up a Fast 4 from a guy who I was buying a power amp from a few weeks ago, when I happened to notice it sitting neglected in his basement.

I have minor experience with these organs -- I also own a '70s Farfisa spinet organ which I cleaned up a few years ago. This thing reeks of cigarettes and I've spent lots of time pulling it apart and cleaning it all, trying to the tolex as white as I possibly can, etc. I have some problem keys though. The main pain in I disagree is a C# and F key in the third octave (I think?). The '4 flute and piccolo voices barely work. I have sprayed and cleaned the crap out of the bus bars on those keys with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and while it's helped, I have to press really hard on the F key to get those final voices to kick in. It sort of looks like it makes poor contact with the upper bus bar...but the other working keys look the same way and are fine. There are a few other keys scattered throughout the board that have problems with various voices.

For example, I could turn on one voice (i.e. '16 Bass) and on some of the problem keys it'll still make a sound, but it sounds like it's missing a "layer" of sound still compared to the keys immediately around it. This is my #1 problem right now. If I pull out the little voice coil thing (stretch it out) while
pressing the key, it makes good contact and works. It also works if I press the plastic piece (that holds the voice coils in place) farther in (making it more straight). I can't get around this and it's driving me nuts.

Other minor things include a constant sound (when loud enough) that sounds like turning a dirty guitar volume pot back and forth slowly (combined with the usual "ghost chords" sustaining in the background). The output of this organ is set to: FREAKING LOUD...the volume knob does nothing but I barely have to touch the volume knob on my amp to get a very loud signal. It's not a critical problem, but it would be nice to have a working volume knob.

Also, the black spots on the bus bars...is it mold? I saw someone's pictures of their Vox and they said the black stuff was mold and I have quite a bit all over my bus bars.

I realized too that this thin cord coming out of the organ was the output cable...with the 1/4" jack cut off. I had been going out of the headphone out. If I buy and solder a new jack on there, would it make much a difference compared to the headphone out?

www.flickr.com/photos/15341017@N08/sets/72157624548323962/

[pauljfast4]

I just picked up a Farfisa FAST4 myself. I found it at a Music Go Round here in Columbus Ohio. It has the blue plastic trim. Everything is here except the front accent piece on the lid is missing ( the little 1 inch wide vertical piece, just for looks). It came with the original volume pedal and the stand. I like this stand as it is integrated into the organ. The lid across the front for a cross brace is a very smart design. It makes for a very sturdy organ stand that looks cool too. After removing the top I noticed right away on the board marked PA-100, that the 1,000 uf electrolytic capacitor was leaking. The boards being modular are very easy to repair. I like the fact that they put enough wire on the board so that when it is pulled from the slot ( the metal tabs needn't be removed, just loosen the screws and slide the tabs so that the circuit board can pull out) part removal is a snap!
You mention your headphone output being very loud- it would be as it designed to drive the real speakers they used to put in the headphones. The wire you mention will be a high-Z out more than likely, just throw a new 1/4" jack on it and you'll be fine plugging it into a guitar amp or line-in on mixer. The electronics on a Farfisa are probably easier to deal with than the wobbly keyboard. If you have any pointers on getting the keys level, spaced right, and tightened side to side I'd love to hear about it in your thread. I will post how my repair goes with the capacitor. The F#'s are off key slightly. I needn't mention the erratic sound until fix the leaky cap. More later.

[smashguy37]

I soldered a new jack on the output wire and it's still loud as hell, the volume knob does nothing. I don't notice any sound difference between either output though.

The organ accidentally blew up my tube head, so I've since put everything back together. I still have some problem keys, but I can't seem to clean them anymore, so whatever. I had the plastic trim sides off the organ and the plastic support "beams" underneath the circuit board with the rocker tabs are mostly missing (except for one), which means the wires soldered onto the power switch can make contact the metal keys underneath.

I was literally piecing the black plastic sides together because some idiot screwed random holes into them and they became very weak and were breaking apart so I had to epoxy everything back together and spray paint them (they look pretty good now). Anyway, they were off for a while so I had been using something to prop up the part of the organ with the rocker tabs and was playing some stuff (bad idea), but I accidentally knocked this piece with my elbow while changing some cords and the organ part fell and made contact with the metal keys and POOF, spark, it made my amp eat 110v.

The organ still worked fine, and my amp innards looked okay, but I took it to some guy to fix and he said the ground trace was blown clean off the circuit board, like a firecracker had gone off inside.

[dobridiv]

Volume knob on your organ can set volume only for the bass notes..its purpose is to make balance in loudness between grey and black keys...

can you help me with my farfisa...?
I need picture of output wires and where they are soldered on out connectors from inside

all the best
Alex

[justmike]

Maybe this helps. I don't know how different the models are.
combo-organ.blogspot.com/2009/10/farfisa-compact-combo-key-contact.html