pads question

[dsquirrel]

Is it just my eyes/different lighting or are the pads on the second 303 a completely different colour? Were two models produced?

[cartesia]

the second one is what really old rubber/plastic looks like.. also it looks like the colour saturation looks alot higher in that picture

it's probably been sitting in a box most of it's life because the rest of it is mint and none of the numbers are worn off the pads.

[dsquirrel]

That was my first thought too, cartesia. The uniformity of the aging and the condition of the rest of the unit threw me off though, as with this:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT

When was the sp-303 originally released? I would have thought it would take quite a number of years to get such distinct discoloration.

[ellaguru]

When was the sp-303 originally released? I would have thought it would take quite a number of years to get such distinct discoloration.

i think it's from 2001

[cartesia]

303 was released in 2001 I believe.

I got a korg ES-1 from japan (made in 2000) .. it had been in the box its whole life - had exactly the same coloured pads.. so yeah I think that it's possible from 2001 to have gotten that much colouration

[dsquirrel]

Interesting. It must be something environmental. There's got to be plenty of 303's out there that aren't discolored that are equally as old. Though it seems counterinuitive that keeping them away from light might causes it. I thought it was the opposite for rubber i.e exposure to uv light caused discoloration. You're probably right, however. I can't think of any other way they could get like that.

[* warrika *]

Another possibility could be smoke.

I have a Korg EM-1 and the pads look like the brand new 303, and an EMX-1 and the pads are all yellowed. The EM-1, although an older model, was in much better condition when I bought it.

Also keep in mind that how it looks otherwise might not necessarily be an indication of how it was kept, all the parts can be cleaned up (not so much the discoloration to the pads).

Really doesn't matter if it works fine.

[22tape]

by chance has anyone figured out a way to remove these kinds of stains? i recently got a 555 and the pads are badly stained like this. thanks.