Sub37 Yellow Keys!

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bhrama
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Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by bhrama » Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:51 pm

Hello,
I've had my Sub37 for little over a year and it has recently turned yellow on the keys. I'm perplexed as its been in my smoke free studio its entire life, and covered with a heavy sheet. My P6 is also covered by the same sheet, and stored in the same manner, but it doesn't have any yellowing whatsoever.

Any help/direction is greatly appreciated!
P6, Tempest, Sub37

Ted3000
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by Ted3000 » Sun Feb 19, 2017 6:07 pm

Do you park your 37 near a sunny window?

A sheet will stop the dust, but isn't great for direct sunlight. And if you light your studio with black lights (or even compact fluorescents ) you're baking those ivories in UV. Ultraviolet light turns many white plastics yellow. Maybe the 37 has a different plastic than the P6.

I'd take this as an opportunity to swap out the keybed with a better one. Or enjoy the roadworn future relic look!
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_DemonDan_
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by _DemonDan_ » Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:17 pm

"We all live in a yellow Sub37, yellow Sub37, yellow Sub37..." :D
_ :twisted: _DemonDan_ :twisted: _

Stevie Ray
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by Stevie Ray » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:08 pm

My Sub 37 lives in a room that has a normal amount of sunlight (North-facing windows) and is covered with cheap (the cheapest!) transparent plastic dust covers. I have had my Sub 37 for over 18 months and have not seen any yellowing of the keys. They look as bright and white as the day they arrived.

The uniform yellowing of plastic keys is due to the degradation of the optical brighteners added to the polymer. The usual cause of this degradation is UV light, although atmospheric pollution can exacerbate the effect. As well as yellowing the keys, UV exposure can make the plastic more brittle.

I'm very surprised that such a new instrument should exhibit this. I'd expect it of ancient keyboards like my 1980s Juno 106, but for a practically new keyboard it's not right at all, and you should complain.

Contact Moog tech support if you haven't already. This is definitely not normal.

Blackout
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by Blackout » Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:02 am

my Sub 37 keys have yellowed also. I took a look at them the other day, the Sub37 is sitting on a keyboard rack with a Roland JX3P above it (from 1982) and a Roland JD800 below it from the 90s, and my 18 month old Sub37 keys are seriously way more yellow than the other keyboards..it looks like its the old one! like the yellow color of some old man who hasnt brushed his teeth. What the....my room is dark, air conditioned and smoke free i dont get it....they must have used some kind of cheap plastic that this happens to?

if it was a UV problem in my studio then the other keyboards above and below it would have suffered too.

not good. will be contacting customer support also

mmarsh100
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by mmarsh100 » Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:19 pm

Patina.

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Flareless
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by Flareless » Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:10 pm

Yellow keys here too. Very sad. While the synth is near a window it is covered most of the time with a Moog brand cover (I mean, if you can't trust Moog to cover the Sub then who can you trust). Still it's yellow.

The Sub 37 sits atop a Yamaha Motif XF6 and adjacent to a Yamaha DX7-II (used as a controller for my modular). Even though the Sub 37 is much newer than either of the Yamaha keyboards their keys are pristine white and the Moogs look like crap.

I wonder if the upgraded key-bed Moog is offering will yellow too.
Rich

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oli@sub37
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by oli@sub37 » Sun Dec 24, 2017 6:27 pm

Same story here: Sub37 always covered with original Moog Sub cover and very rarely used, smoke free home studio, little sunlight, no UV lamps. Its keys have turned quite «ivory" within about 18 months of owning it from brand new. The Virus TI Darkstar next to it has no cover, is used almost daily within the last 16 months, was bought used, and its keys are shiny white.

Makes no sense.

Bass Player and Synthesist.
Voyager RME #1273 | Sub 37 #8490 with SSQ37 Update | Virus TI2 | Elektron MD MNM A4 | Roland SE-02 | Behringer Model D
Mac OS X 10.14 | Cubase Pro 11.0 | Ableton Live 9.6 | MainStage 3 | RME UFX+

seanpark
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by seanpark » Mon Dec 25, 2017 3:05 am

Moog sold me a relplacement keybed a year ago bit have not responded to a reqest for another

Blackout
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by Blackout » Tue Apr 10, 2018 11:14 am

im glad i found this thread, i thought it was just me and my eyes were messing with me, my Sub37 keys have yellowed progressively fast, its rediculous ive got a prophet 6 sitting underneath it on my synth rack, nice white keys as you would expect and the Sub37 keys look like an old man's yellow plaque-teeth...no window, sitting in my smoke-free studio in the dark corner of the room.

Heres a pic [attached]..the sub is on the top left, below sticking out on the right is the Prophet 6 keybed...what the hell i had an artist in my room who looked at the Sub and said "wow what happened to your Sub37 man?". its damn embarrassing.

Is there only certain batches/serial numbers that are affected? mine is in the first 500...
Sub37 yellow keys.jpg

Blackout
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by Blackout » Thu Apr 12, 2018 10:20 am

hi all has anyone had Moog replace their yellowing keys? i contacted them and sent them the pic i posted above and they have told me "We would not replace a keyboard with yellowing keys under warranty as it is not a defect of any kind, nor does it affect the use of the instrument. "

im fairly disappointed... this is obviously a manufacturing fault due to bad plastic being used for the keys...

DeckardTrinity
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Re: Sub37 Yellow Keys!

Post by DeckardTrinity » Thu May 10, 2018 3:43 pm

That's unfortunate. I had one key on my Voyager XL turn yellow a few years ago and they promptly sent me a replacement key. I guess an entire keybed is going to cost a bit more for them to replace however.

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