I've owned cases long enough to see the foam go bad. The others are right, it's pretty
harmless, and once you've cleaned and cleared it away, the keyboard will be fine.

--- In oberheim@yahoogroups.com , "lawjcrg" <lawjcrg@...> wrote:
>
> Hello. I just joined this forum. I own an Oberheim ob-8 and dsx
> sequencer and a matrix 6. I just bought what was represented to be a
> fully functional ob-sx from ebay. It came with an anvil case. When it
> arrived I was shocked to see that black foam in the interior of the
> case was rotted and moist and had formed a black dust/paste that
> covered the synth controlls, was in and between the keys and has
> completed clogged all of the inputs on the back. Just picture someone
> throwing the keyboard in a puddle of mud, and that's what it looks
> like. I really wanted this synth, it was the 56 present version with
> the blue stripes. I have a keyboard shop that works on my other
> synths. I was going to take it to them just to clean it before
> powering it up (I'd be afraid to do it now for fear of it having an
> electrical short).
> I'm concerned that even after cleaning up, this thing may be
> destroyed. I really don't know who caused this, the shipping company
> or the seller. In any event, this synth has all of its sounds in ROM.
> If the electronics are damaged and boards or chips have to be
> replaced, is it even possible on this synth Can original presets
> somehow be restored if so how
>
> I'd really like to keep it, even if I have to invest a little $$$ to
> get it up and running but I want to know if it's even possible. If
> not, I'll just fight with the seller to give me a complete refund.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help!!
>