Building a case for my keyboard... I have questions

[ianmgull]

I'm a guitarist with an occasional keyboard habit. I'm going to make a roadcase for my Novation Ultranova. It will be made of 3/4" plywood and lined with at least an inch of foam on the inside. The top of the case will be detachable so that the keyboard will rest in the bottom of the case which will go directly on the stand. My question is about the padding on the top part.

Obviously a case should apply light pressure via the foam in 360 degrees around the keyboard to prevent movement. Does it matter where this happens? For example:

Does it matter if the foam is pressing all of the keys down while it is in the case? Will this reduce the life of the keybed over time? The Ultranova isn't known for it's robust knobs so I'm also concerned about applying pressure here. Is this a problem?

I only ask because I haven't owned many keyboards and certainly haven't built any cases so I'm wondering where to apply the necessary pressure to keep the keyboard stable.

THANKS!!!

ian

[condit79]

I've built a lo of different things out of wood, including guitars, amp cases, tables, etc. I'd say first off 3/4 in plywood is overkill. You'd be better off using a thin birch plywood as it has better tensil strength and could be thinner than even 1/2in and still be effective. I'd try to avoid pushing keys down the whole time. You could use a first layer using a fairly closed cell foam to hold the synth in place on the bottom and use a nice layer of soft cell foam on the top lid to softly protect all the knobs and sensitive parts. Hope that helps!

[GuyaGuy]

Yeah I'd try to build it so that nothing is touching the keys and especially not the knobs. Since you're customizing it for a specific synth that shouldn't be too hard.

[Stab Frenzy]

Yeah nothing touching the keys,knobs, buttons or wheels. Build it so that there's foam holding it snug, but not too tight, from above on either side of the keyboard in the thing 1/2" strip on either side. You want it to be tight enough that it won't move by itself in normal handling but have enough give that if the case is dropped not all the energy of the case hitting the ground is transferred to the synth.