DIY electronics repair, how to find what part I need

Question

I bought a Korg EMX-1 on Ebay and it arrived with a slider snapped off. I'd like to fix this as cheaply as possible, and that starts with finding the replacement part, and maybe some guides to doing the repair. After some googling I found this part that looks like the right thing, but I don't know how to confirm that it will do the trick. Are there any resources for identifying correct replacement parts for commercial electronics?

Answer 1

1. Disassemble the device until you can see the broken part.
2. Look for identifying codes on the part. (If it's like the picture you linked to, you might have to desolder it to look at the underside.)
3. Web search for all combinations of such codes, and try including the keyword "datasheet". (You may have to add or remove hyphens/spaces, or use a prefix of the code; and some numbers may be date codes identifying batches, or serial numbers, which are not useful for this purpose.)
4. If you find an identically-numbered part for sale, that is most likely the same thing.
5. Otherwise, hopefully you find a datasheet (they are usually posted as PDF documents). Read the datasheet to understand the electrical and mechanical properties of the part you are replacing.
6. Using the information and terminology obtained from the datasheet, find another compatible part (comparing its datasheet to confirm) and buy it.
7. If you didn't find a datasheet, then you'll have to measure the characteristics of the device you're replacing and/or the circuit it is in. Since your broken slider is (I assume) still functional, just hard to actually slide, and is a simple potentiometer, you can measure the resistances between its terminals to find out its resistance range and pin configuration, then search for replacements and check their datasheets to see if they are compatible.

Answer 2

You should start by contacting Korg. I've heard some interesting stories about Korg supplying parts for synths that are long out of production.