Members gilwe Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 Hooray ! I got the Rhodes eventually, price wasn't the best, but hey - not many Rhodes around, so we'll need to take care of this one and refurbish it ! Serial is 00087. Problems - - 5 missing tines and screws - 11 tore apart key straps -Two hammers are missing the rubber tip - Replacing one cosmetically damaged B key - New tolex and cosmetic refurbishment All pickup seem to work, but the two rods which uses to g from the rear leg to the screw hole under the keyboard are missing, causing the pedal sustain to loose contact from time to time... I already contacted vintagevibe.com for ordering what's missing. Here are some pics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 I hope you didn't pay too much for it... seems like it is fixable though... Tonebars look good... guess it hasn't got the '79+ key ped mod.. (not needed unless you plan to be a jazz soloist IMHO) I'd take it apart and get a hoover in there to clean it up... don't worry too much about the tolex... just glue it back... Bridal straps have snapped on a few dampers... Hammertips are worn, though this doesn't always mean they should be replaced.. as long as they ring true thats all that matters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted April 20, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 Yep, saw those flaws... I payed a half of what a good shape one goes for where I live. That's still much higher than US prices but these are the market prices outside the US I guess I'm just in the process of removing all keys and give all parts a serious cleaning.... Next it the tolex I guess. Will wait for vintagevibe to give me a price for all bad/missing parts Any suggestion of how to make the piano more stable so the sustain works better ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 have you tested the pickups yet? Try tapping them with a screwdriver... they should make a consistant thunk noise.. sustain in tone? Or sustain pedal? pretty much everything interacts... its only once it all comes together it starts sounding good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 There's nothing that pisses me off more than cigarette burns on the keys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 my rhodes has them on the end blocks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted April 20, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 The pickups are ok. I was referring to the sustain pedal. There use to be two rods which go from the rear legs to the center of the bottom area, to make the piano more stable - thus not letting the sustain rod loosing its position. Those are missing... Strange symptom that I found is that the keys on the upper half keyboard makes "clunk" sound when they are hit. The lower octaves are silent. Worn hammer tips ? Also, are the key straps easy to replace ? Thanks ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 21, 2008 Members Share Posted April 21, 2008 The pickups are ok. I was referring to the sustain pedal. There use to be two rods which go from the rear legs to the center of the bottom area, to make the piano more stable - thus not letting the sustain rod loosing its position. Those are missing...Thanks ! ... the two supports are more for keeping the piano stable (and also to help a person lift the piano up using the back legs to take the strain) and nothing to do with the sustain pedal... are you getting mixed up with the CP70? About the straps.. I've never had to fix one so I know nothing about them... However, pretty much everything I've come across on the rhodes is fixable with a little know-how and creativity... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted April 22, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 After a few days inspecting and cleaning the instrument I found the following issues: - The clanking noise coming out when hitting the upper keys is caused by worn out hammer tips. - I took out all keys and cleaned them up as well as the bottom area (huge amount of dust and black coffee traces ) - I scraped the cigarette marks out and repainted, key waiting to get polished. - Hammers which have broken straps have been taken out Next steps: - Ordering tines, springs, screws, straps and tips - Replacing straps, installing the new tips and tines - Retolexing and renewing the upper cover - Removing paint from the sustain pedal and refurbising - Tuning and calibration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted April 22, 2008 Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 Sounds like a lot of work... but you will learn so much in the process that you'll never need to use a tech to do any work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members patrickd Posted April 22, 2008 Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 gilwe, do what you can to fix up the rhodes. i was just through tokyo and played all kinds of boards, from the clavia electro, to the new roland gx, to the other 88 keyworkstations, to the rhodes. whatever you paid, it doesn'tmatter now. as long as you can fix it up and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 The baby is now almost completely functional. In the past few weeks I repaired the broken bridle straps, tuned and calibrated the pitch and pickups, did some cosmetic work such as fixing the burned key, repainting the sustain pedal, gluing the tolex, cleaning etc. I actually want to retolex it but I think I'll leave it to sometimes in the future. Current'y there are still 5 tines and one hammer tip missing at the lowest keys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheB3Nut Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 Wow...nice work! I really need to fix mine up one of these days...not quite as busted-up as yours was but still a bit rough. Mine came from a yard sale up the street from my old house years ago...$25!! Wasn't about to pass that one up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 I had a look at my friend's MKII this week. Damn well kept but sounded dull and action was't as nice as on mine. I like those MK-I's !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 I had a look at my friend's MKII this week. Damn well kept but sounded dull and action was't as nice as on mine. I like those MK-I's !! Theres no difference between mid/late 70s MKI and MkIIs so it must be your friends setup.. The earlier rhodes (1960s-70) had a different sound due to having felt hammers, up until 1975 I think they also used wooden camshafts but I can't imagine how this would effect the sound in a different way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 Nature of sound must be its pickup adjustment, but still, the action feels much shallower, very similar to the one on my CP60M, as opposed to the action I came across when checking out CP70 which was much like on my MKI... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 Action can be easily adjust.. I tried putting washers under the keys to prop up the action.. Here was it before I did the mod Afterwards the keys could not be pulled up at all... Also the main difference between pre 78 and post 78 is the key ped modification Heres my old 1976 Mk1... notice the felts on the camshafts. On post 1978 rhodes these felts were moved to the wooden key below... Heres my old MKI with purple tolex... Now heres my MkII when I got it and a couple of shots of me recently playing it live As I've now owned 3 rhodes I can honestly say there is little difference between the mid 70s rhodes and the 80s ones... they have the same parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 How can you tell the year of manufacture ? mine's serial is 00087 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orangefunk Posted May 8, 2008 Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 should be a 4 digit number on pick up board 1776 is 17th week of 1976... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 8, 2008 2476. Cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aanalogaddict Posted May 9, 2008 Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 Wow, really nice work! It's good to se an old neglected and abused instrument come to a good home and get such a good treatment! I have a MkI 73 from March -77 that's in a good shape mechanically, a bit worn tolex and no support rods, and a neglected 1971 (!) Stage 88. Right now it's in storage awaiting restoration (and a couple of new tines), but I'll post some pics when I get around to it. It sounds and plays REALLY good. The chassis is a bit different than what I've seen before. The wooden 'lip' below the keys extends further downwards below the bottom than what I've seen on any other Rhodes - not sure if it's an amateur hack or the age of the piano. I also suspect that it's a rebuilt Suitcase - and that's what it's going to become again! THIS is what it's going to look like in a year or so, it must be in shape for its 40th birthday in three years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 9, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 I'll retolex mine sometimes soon. It plays and sounds quite awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dejavoodoo Posted May 9, 2008 Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 How hard is retolexing? Is any disassembly required? I plan on doing mine next month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gilwe Posted May 9, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 Check this thread out. The guy has given his 73 a new red vinyl covers ! beautiful ! http://www.fenderrhodes.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3948 ... and another pic of mine ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dejavoodoo Posted May 9, 2008 Members Share Posted May 9, 2008 Damn! For some reason the Rhodes site is blocked at work. Blocked! Who's running it - Al Qaeda? You restoration looks cracking good, gil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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