Fixing unresponsive buttons on a Nord Modular.

The Nord Lead G1 is over 20 years old now and recently I started noticing some buttons were not behaving as they should, needing a few presses before doing anything. First it was just one but pretty quickly most of the buttons seemed to suffer from the same problem. So I decided to take a look.

Before doing anything I wanted to know more about these buttons and I found out via the Nord User Forum they are Marquardt series 6450 switches. These are very good quality components and can be opened up to be serviced.

Just by slightly pressing the sides of the button cap you can take it off. This reveals a copper contact spring you can remove by gently lifting it out with a small screwdriver.

This reveals the inside of the button with its gold plated contact points. I just used a tiny amount of contact spray just to be sure, using a kitchen paper towel. The contacts looked clean in all the buttons anyway and I didn’t want to create an unnecessary mess.

To clean the switch mechanics of this button I decided to use a contact spray that is especially made for these type of switches like this Kontakt60 or DeoxIT. One that de-oxidizes and cleans the contacts but doesn’t lubricate or leaves a sticky mess behind that will gather dust.

As you can clearly see here, the spring needed a lot more attention. In all those years of use a fairly thick layer of copper oxidation has formed causing the buttons not to work properly.

I just applied a quick spray directly on the springs and let them soak for a couple of minutes. That took away of most of the oxidation. Giving them a bit of a clean with some paper towel removed the rest. Let them completely dry and put them back in the button.

A quick continuity test with the multimeter revealed that all the buttons were working perfect again. And after re-assembly and a good test it was confirmed that my Nord Modular is good to be used for a lot more years.