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Received and assembled my MS-20 Kit last week, after assembly and starting to use it the screen printing in several areas in the patch bay started flaking off, literally FLAKING off. Like bad paint that didn't stick. Contacted the dealer, who I will leave nameless, said they can't get another faceplate since they are limited edition and will credit me a measly $50.00. Tried contacting Korg but have not heard back from them.

What eats me is the only reason I paid $1400 for this kit was to have a PREFECT minty fresh new MS-20 again, it looks worse than my old one now…

You really need to follow that up mate. That's just not right for the price they ask. Deal direct with Korg if you can, the dealer can't help obviously but that little part refund will never cut it.

Oh man, that sucks!
I didn't have any issues like that with my MS20 mini, but I did/do with my EHX bass microsynth ant it's a real bitch.
Having just assembled the thing, I'm tempted to say that if Korg aren't able to come through, you might want to pop down to your local autoparts store and pick up some clear coat. Maybe test it out on the section that's already got paint coming off before you go all out.
But yah, for that price tag, this is rough.
Hopefully Korg will come through, but it'll prbably involve either sending the plat eback for a redo, or waiting for another part to be sent out...

I haven't noticed this with my Kit, but I will examine it more closely. Can somebody with this problem post pics?

See Nick at Sonic Sense Review of MS 20 Kit. He mentions the flaking paint at 16:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBPnOtsyp4

I checked my MS-20 Kit, serial no 226, by rubbing my finger over much of the screen-printed legending on the front panel with a little pressure. Fortunately, on my synth it seems the printing is on there to stay.

Somebody over at Gearslutz has encountered the same problem, and he has successfully made arrangements with Korg. They will be providing him an entire replacement kit. The thread is here: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electron ... -else.html

mopho007 wrote:Received and assembled my MS-20 Kit last week, after assembly and starting to use it the screen printing in several areas in the patch bay started flaking off:(

FWIW, I received this response from Korg UK about this flaking/oscillators issue: "In short, this should not be something to be concerned about. With regards to the "clunk" noise when switching the oscillator's octave, that can happen on certain settings only which is, to a certain extent, to be expected since it's an analogue circuit after all.

We have been in touch with Nick Batt and also our colleagues in Japan regarding the writing peeling off the panel. The unit he was sent seems to be the only unit that anybody has heard of with this issue. A number of tests have been carried out with other units and we have been unable to reproduce the problem, especially since it could potentially have been caused by the way it was put together, etc."

Ben

baward wrote:especially since it could potentially have been caused by the way it was put together, etc."

I've been concerned over this DIY problem with warranty. My momentary switch isn't working properly at the jack output (although the switch itself is shorting when pressed) and I am just not going to contact Korg about it. Its the only problem I can find and they are probably going to blame me for it anyway. But I would be very concerned over the panel printing, that issue is NOT good enough!

B

baward wrote:

mopho007 wrote:Received and assembled my MS-20 Kit last week, after assembly and starting to use it the screen printing in several areas in the patch bay started flaking off:(

FWIW, I received this response from Korg UK about this flaking/oscillators issue: "In short, this should not be something to be concerned about. With regards to the "clunk" noise when switching the oscillator's octave, that can happen on certain settings only which is, to a certain extent, to be expected since it's an analogue circuit after all.

We have been in touch with Nick Batt and also our colleagues in Japan regarding the writing peeling off the panel. The unit he was sent seems to be the only unit that anybody has heard of with this issue. A number of tests have been carried out with other units and we have been unable to reproduce the problem, especially since it could potentially have been caused by the way it was put together, etc."

Ben

Assuming the printing is aready done when the kit arrives, that is a fault with their manufacturing somewhere. The last sentence quoted here is not good enough imo, sounds like a get-out bid to me. OK if you build the kit & scrape it or something then yes, your own fault but if it's actually flaking off because it's not done too well, it's their fault.

baward wrote:

mopho007 wrote:Received and assembled my MS-20 Kit last week, after assembly and starting to use it the screen printing in several areas in the patch bay started flaking off:(

FWIW, I received this response from Korg UK about this flaking/oscillators issue: "In short, this should not be something to be concerned about. With regards to the "clunk" noise when switching the oscillator's octave, that can happen on certain settings only which is, to a certain extent, to be expected since it's an analogue circuit after all."

That's complete nonsense, Korg have used the wrong rotary switch for the octave settings. My Korg MS10, which is obviously far older than the MS20 Kit, has never exhibited the "clunk" on the rotary. The fact that the synth is analogue has nothing to do with this problem whatsoever.

I know there's a noise when switching octaves, but I'd much rather have that to get an easy to turn rotary switch.

B