here are a few pics on how I replaced the LEDs in my FM keyboard. I did this purely for fun, as it was something I wanted to do years ago as a few of my friends had done this mod to their STs and I was always jealous as back then blue LEDs were pretty rare. As they are now literally pence to buy, I've finally got round to it

I've kept the old LEDs, so I can go back to 'stock' if the mood takes me...
First, remove the keyboard, and support it somehow:

Then take out all the screws, including the three under the plastic:

And the two over the port cover:

There are 27 little screws and two bigger ones.

Carefully lift the circuit board up and over. If you are lucky, the cups will stay in place, but probably half will be stuck to the board. Move them back to the keys.

Now is a good time to check for dry solder on the mouse/joystick ports too - mine looked a bit suspect, so did a quick reflow with the soldering iron.

The factory LEDs are surface mounted on this board (on my STe they were put through the board) so bend your new LED to the same approximate shape.

Soldered on:

The holes will need enlarging too, I used a small drill.

Make sure all the caps are back in place, but don't worry about this missing one, it's supposed to be missing, then carefully put the board back on, making sure the LEDs are fed through the new holes

after putting all the screws back in, it should look something like this:

Power on test with no cover - very bright and blue!

Cover in place, nice


twenty minutes work for a new 'look'
