just started having problems with my keyboard. 8 keys - 4 black and 4 white-(A to Eflat) have stopped working. Anyone know why this would happen of how to fix it.

It depends how much has it been played. Casio is not really a heavy-duty brand.
(Also, does the key strike feel insufficiently amortized at the end? ugly plastic-on-plastic sound ? my CTK-800 is so)

Now such a Casio doesn't have a huge monetary value, so if you feel moderately technically adventurous you may unscrew the case and try to see...

As you described it, one of the 'wires' on one side of the 'key matrix' may be interrupted. If they have an arrangement like on cheap PC keyboards, it's really a pre-printed conductive layer between two layers of elastic plastic, leading to the sensitive capsules. It fissures with repeated mechanical stress. At some time there was a sticky mixture of graphite+glue to fix these - after the solvent evaporated, a new conductive trace was left. I've lost count of how many times my dad patched the keyboard of the old Sinclair ZX Spectrum with it...

Hi Flutes,

Well you're in luck. I happen to own one of those. ROM may be right, the inside might have electrical damage. However, these type of keyboards usually have a rubber membrane strip inside of them with conductive touch pads that make contact with the trace pads. Many times the conductor pad responsible for sounding that pad is dirty and dosen't make the connection anymore. If you use a "Q" tip with a little glass cleaner on it, you can usually restore the function.

The bad news is that because you seem to indicate that an entire bank of keys is out next to each other, the pad assembly or circut board assembly may be beyond repair. If you take the unit appart, work carefully, you will find many screws and possibly some clips that hold the circut board in place. I found a yamaha pss180 that was tossed for one key out. Inside I found a very small bug stuck in the pad that works that key. After cleaning the keyboard worked fine.

You will also find that the moist "Q" tip is usually enough to make the connection on the circut board and serves as a live tester for each key trigger. The tones were sounding as I cleaned the pads in the yamaha. I did this on purpose because I wasn't going to put everything back together only to find out one key dosen't work. Hope this helps you out. If push comes to shove, you can find a replacement on Ebay most likely.

If anyone is interested in seeing this classic board in action, check out Joe on YouTube playing the drums on it to a Boston song. Very cool. Here is the link and the search terms I used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iao-Iq4Jtxs

Search terms for Google:

casio keyboard drummer jpizzle

Just a quick update, I think I used those search terms inside the YouTube site itself. Good luck with your unit, mine is stored in its original box and has never been appart. It is still as clean and nice as the day I bought it. I don't play it much since I got my Yamaha, but I still love it and do practice on it from time to time.