I finally got around to spraying my Korg MicroKorg this weekend. I have mixed feelings towards this little keyboard. On the one hand it's pretty basic, the presets are mostly cheesy techno bass sounds and they're generally owned by every schmuck who 'plays keyboards' in a band without really being in any way an accomplished keyboard player *raises hand*.
On the other hand it's perfectly suited to our busy stage setup. It's a tiny little piece of kit and it has survived tumbling from stages, me standing on it, throwing it, smashing on the keys... you name any way to try and kill this thing, I've tried it. The best I've been able to manage was to damage the volume control but that just means it has to be louder to function!
I tried to look for some alternatives recently but all I came across was the Alesis Micron and the still-rather-Korg-ish Microsampler, neither of which are a step up in any way. So I thought if I have to live with this thing, I might as well see if I can make it look a little bit better or a little more unique at least.
These photos are all of the beast once it was dismantled. I made maps of the screws by blu-tacking them to sheets of A4 (there were plenty of them) disconnected and removed the pitch and mod wheels, the keyboard and finally the chipboard. I removed the knobs (I'd lost a few already) and took off the front plate to avoid obscuring the control matrix when I painted the thing.
After an attempt at cleaning some of the sealed controls with a little WD40 (or as us musicians call it, the elixir of life) I took to cursing myself as I tried to remove the multitude of stickers that I'd foolishly stuck to the underside. How I regretted how committed I'd been to expressing my love for The Computers in sticker form. Prime example of why I should never get a tattoo, six months later I'll be spraying it with oil and scratching it off with an Argos multi-tool.
I had read that the plastic would take the paint better if I roughed it up with a bit of wet and dry. This was difficult to keep even so I went one better and took to it with a Black and Decker mouse sander (they're small and precise). But the amazing indestructible MicroKorg struck again when the sander began to vibrate wildly in my hand and it became apparent that the metal rods holding the base in place had sheared away. You can't even sand this thing!
Finally it was time to paint. I used standard matt-black spray paint suitable for plastics which was touch dry in half an hour. The first coat left considerable patchiness from my uneven sanding and I was worried that I'd sprayed too close as the surface of the paint looked a little lumpy. The second coat however went on much easier and the surface was looking good. The patchiness is totally invisible 48 hours later and having put it back together again, I'm happy to report that it is in fully working order. As soon as my camera has finished charging, I'll take a proper snapshot. I'm pleased with the results!
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