Yamaha Electone EL-90 Pedal fix

Do you recognize these problems:


Especially Cis, Aes and Bes are millimeters lower than the other black pedals

Here is what I did.

Step 1

First step is to disassemble the break and accelerator pedals (the expression pedals) by removing the screw in front en disconneting the tiny connector on the bottom.


the expression pedals can simply be removed by lifting the front

Step 2

No, I did not forget to rotate this photo.
Next step is to put the organ on it's left side.
Make sure you bring enough hands ~ an EL-90 weighs a lot!
You might consider removing the top to make things easier.
To prevent the cover from opening, tape it shut.


put the organ on it's left side

Step 3

Remove the underplate.
The underplate is held in place by 15 screws:
10 big screws in the picture on top, to the right and to the bottom and
5 smaller screws to the left.


remove the underplate

Step 4

There's the problem: mouldered rubber rings.
The two big bolts on the left-hand side are still all right, the two on the right-hand side are a mess.


clearly see the problem: mouldered rubber rings

Step 5

Then remove 5 more screws to disassemble the pedal board.


Remove the pedal board by removing 5 more screws

Step 6

Remove the pedal board.
This is the reason why the organ is put on it's left side: now the pedal board can be laid on the floor still attached to the organ by a bundle of wires.
The pedal board has to come of because the bolts with the mouldered rubber rings have a nut on the other side.


place the pedal board on the floor

Step 7

The trick is now to remove the nut without turning the bolt, otherwise the remains of the rubber ring will smear the bolt leaving a very hard to remove mess.
Tilt the pedalboard so that the pedals point to heaven and use a screwdriver Phillips 2 on the bottom side and a wrench 7 mm on the top side.
Again rotate the nut, not the bolt! This picture shows what you get if you have to learn the hard way...
One more word of warning: the bolt metal is really soft, so make sure you use a perfect fitting screw driver and make sure not to ruin the bolt head!


pedal, dirty bolt, rubber ring remains, nut

Step 8

Remove all pedals with mouldered rubber rings ~ in my case all black pedals.

black pedals with all that's left of the rubber rings on a beautiful drawing of my daughter...

Step 9

Here's a rubber ring in good condition.
3 mm thick
15 mm outer diameter
6.5 mm inner diameter


a rubber ring in good condition

Step 10

Get replacement rings from your local Yamaha service center or find a ring with similar dimensions.
I found this ring (on the right) at the local plumber!
It has a slightly tighter hole but with a little effort the bolt will fit.


the original and the replacement

Step 11

I put everything back together again and guess what... the pedals are aligned perfectly and play super again!


all pedals exactly aligned and... the dust is gone too!

Notes