Bringing back to life a Farfisa VIP 202R

Few weeks ago while i was wandering in a vintage shop, this old electric organ caught my attention. It was sold as not working, but according to the shop owner the problem could be solved by fixing the power amp/speakers.

As i had a window of one week to return it, i started to debug immediately.

After downloading the schematic from:

https://medias.audiofanzine.com/files/schematic-farfisa-vip-202-202-r-202cr-480272.pdf

I found out that the power amp was not working because it was not receiving the 38V from the organ, due to a defective fuse that was located inside the power supply box.

Since i was at it, i replaced also the old fuse box for the main one, as the fuse locking system wasn't working properly.

Finally i replaced the power cord connector as it did not have the ground pin:

Then i proceded to replace ALL the electrolytic capacitors, as recommended in this article on Reverb:

https://reverb.com/news/diy-vintage-organ-repairs

The new electrolytics are are radial as opposed to the original axial, as they are more readily available.

Since i was satisfied about the electronic restoration (i had to spray also some contact cleaner over the drawbars springs) i went on and looked at the mechanical issues.

Inside the Farfisa was VERY dusty, it took me a while to clean it thoroughly.

Some keys (4) when pressed hard enough remained stuck in the pressed position because the rubber piece that ensures the smooth and noiseless actioning of the keys, lost its original shape.

Using a grinding wheel i restored the shape of the rubber piece, and the "dead key" issue was solved!

In order to remove the keys, the spring on the back must be released.

In order to remove the keys, the spring located on the back must be released

Here are visibile the rubber pieces

Some of the drawbards were not working properly as the little plastic piece that blocked the motion in a on/off position was broken.

They were replaced with a paper fastener, properly bent to stop the motion at the right spot.

After playing with it a while, i noticed that it was not tuned to the standard pitch (A at 440Hz), infact probing the output with the oscilloscope showed a frequency of 428Hz:

It's possible to tune it back to 440Hz adjusting the trimmer located below the keyboard:

Now it's tuned to the correct pitch:

Finally now it looks and sounds as it should!