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Even after I pulled back the pickups the pitch is still a little funky in the bottom few notes, but I like how it sounds otherwise so I'm going to live with it for a bit. 

Here is a photo of the key.  I could glue it in and call it a day, but some of the plastic is missing, exposing the wood, so it'd be nice to find a replacement.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/h8wnmf28y2r03dwnv3fm2/Screenshot-2025-10-01-at-11.39.31-PM.png?rlkey=29rf2mnt9huolitas6mf9wids&dl=0

I tried the "insectoid" washer mod yesterday, and took the opportunity to adjust just about everything.  I moved the pickups super close, which made each note super responsive/saturated, and lowered the escapement screws some to compensate for the hammer-shave (no idea if that's a good solution but it makes sense to me!), and tuned it.  Then when I played it afterwards, the tuning was horrific, apparently these tines/green pickups don't like to be that close because the pitch was moving all over the place, espeically the lower notes.  I also decided that while it was really satisfying to play (actually made the action feel better), the ultra-close pickups felt too distorted to me.  so I set it all up again this morning. 

Now it's sounding and feeling really good.  I'm not totally convinced on the washers.  I actually had to take a handful of them back off because it was deadening the sound in the very top notes, and pulling the washers off brought the them back to life.  I also had some pitch clarity problems near the bottom after the mod, and I suspect removing the washers cleared that up a little too.  It's hard to know for sure because it's impossible compare before/after with all other factors being equal.  I will try to do a comparison in the midrange at some point, with and without.

I have a black key cap that I need to replace, if anyone has any leads.  Vintage Vibe doesn't.  I could try to use a later key, if it seems impossible to find an original one.

sounds right to me.  there is that photo at fenderrhodes.com of this exact model, so there is at least one more them out there.  They call it a piano celeste, but that could be a mistake. 

Spave I checked those insectoid videos and it clearly sounds better with those washers so I'll do that for sure. 

I've called vintage vibe a few times about both hammer tip removal, and sourcing new hammers.  They used to have them so someone there must know SOMETHING about where to get them, but I've had no luck with that so far.

There is a hammer company called Abel in Germany that I was referred to by an acoustic piano technician.  He said I could potentially send all the hammers (potentially leaving arms attached, which would be awesome) and have them re-felted.  So I'm going to find out what it costs to get that done.  Probably pretty expensive, but it would be good to at least know.

this piano only goes down two octaves below middle C so not sure that would qualify as a piano bass.  Also I don't see any suitcase piano bass (or celeste).  I'm starting to think this is simply a "suitcase 49".  It might have been an experimental model.

First post here.  So I'm not even totally sure what this is called.  Maybe someone here knows for sure. it's a got 4 octaves, two below and two above middle C.  It has all the same controls and cabinet as the Sparkle Top 73, a mono jordan preamp, plastic hammer arms, a metal pedestal bump.  This is all original and never modified.  Everything works.  I replaced one pickup with another from the same era.  The action felt "sluggish" and I couldn't really play soft, and after much internal debate, I decided to try sanding down the hammers, and that made a HUGE difference.  It's fun to play now, although escapement probably isn't ideal. I have an acoustic piano tech friend who seems willing to help me shave the bottom off the harp supports so that I can bring the harp closer to the hammers, so I may try that next.  I may also have a lead on suitable hammers... so I'm not totally sure what to try next.

I've been reading a ton from this forum, and it's been so helpful and I've been learning a lot.  I'm hoping to make this instrument super fun to play while keeping it all original, and trying hard to not do anything too stupid! 

I just snapped some photos, and recorded a couple little audio samples.  These are right off the harp, not through the preamp, but the preamp and vibrato sounds really good too.  here's a download link, if it doesn't show up as a hyperlink, copy/paste into a browser and it should start a download to your downloads folder (at least that's how it works for me). 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5tei1ij1sfnec35tganwq/AD_7ta_-KwMEJyRSubkhrEI?rlkey=gv4byc5zowux21szp7rm9jite&dl=1

If you have any advice or experience, I would love to know a person or two who has gone through this before me. 

Chris

This is an old thread, but wondering how this restore went.  I have a similar piano with similar issues and trying to decide what to do about these hammers.  The piano I just purchased is an all-original, and fully functioning Piano "Celeste", 49 Key. It has a pedestal bump, and a Jordan preamp, and it's in very nice shape cosmetically, but the action is not great.  The previous owner's dad was a producer at Colombia Records in LA in the 60s, and apparently Leo Fender gifted this to him.  It was then immediately given to his 12 year old son, who has had it ever since, and I don't think he ever lifted the lid.