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Get a keyboard-table, like for instance the König & Meyer 18950. You'll hurtyour knees on a X-stand at it may not even carry the weight of your Rhodes. K&M sais that their table takes up to 80kg. It probably takes even more, but watch for the weight if you have an 88 key Suitcase it's probably about 70kg.

hmmm... seems a bit too basic for me. Wouldn't it be the same (or better) just to play that individual note related to the pickup?

The case is, that the Rhodes makes weird noises which are very audible when played through a PA, but unnoticeable, when played through an amp. I've experienced similair noises on my perfect working MKII, when the harp is up and you're working on it while it is connected to a set of speakers. The noises can be descriped as "electro-static" noises - kind of like if you put electronic equipment on top of the rhodes, just not THAT audible. But still really annoying, and eliminating the possibility of using it for studio-recordings.

I was thinking, that there are really not much electronics inside excepts for the pickups and some kind of "capacitor" sitting at the upper octave. I still suspect that something might be wrong with the capacitor (which may not even be a capacitor), but since there are 88 pickups, chances are greater that something is wrong with one of them.

Therefore I was asking for some way to test the indiviual pickups.

Thanks,

I sent a mail to Freddan with some questions as well.

One thing that makes me wonder is, that the guy I may buy these from claims that the amp in the Satellites is only a slave-amp and that you need a pre-amp in front of it. I am almost certain that this setup was not meant to be used with an external pre-amp, so if there is a pre-amp it has to be inside the Rhodes. Did the Stagepianos that had a 4 (or 5?) pin output have a built in pre-amp, or is the amp in the Satellites supposed to be the only amp?

Badrat, you're the admin here, and you are the admin at the supersite as well, right. Don't you have the manual, then? I'd be happy if you could mail it to me. It would probably answer a lot of my questions.

hrees: what do you mean by lubricated? Lubricate the key pedestals or something like that?
I have a plastic-key MKII as well, and it first I found it quite nice to play, although way more noisy than the wooden key-models, but as I have been playing it more and more I've started to be more and more annoyed by the action. At last I changed the action from "light" to heavy, which seemed better at first but now I think it's too heavy. I really like the wood-key action best. At this time I am thinking about selling it and getting a MKI or a early MKII instead, but it's all a matter of personal taste. I might even change my mind, when I get a proper amp for it, since it is responsible for a great deal of the expressiveness as well.

I a thinking about buying a 88-key Mark I, which needs quite a bit of restoration.
It has a tendency to create some nasty noises (like static electricity), which I suspect is caused by one (or more) bad pickup(s). How can I test the pickups, can I measure them in some way with a ohm-meter, or something like that?

Hi,

I'm trying to find some info about the Fender Super Satellite System, while fenderrhodes.com is down.
What is the advantage of the Super Satellites?
Are they tube-driven (Fender Twin style) or is it more like the suitcase speakers?
Are they easily modified to be used with a Rhodes without the 4-pin connector?

Hi all,

Should I invest in a harmonic clarifier for my Rhodes? I find that the tone is indeed muddy, when firing the output through a mic/instrument preamp and into my computer soundcard. Does anyone have some samples of a Rhodes before and after it was clarified? I checked out the dyno-eq pedal from speakeasy, but I actuallydon't like the EQ. I find that the sound loses some "presence" that way.

How about a mad DIY-project, rebuilding a real rhodes to be triggered by a midi-pickup.
I think there are some acoustic piano midikits out there, which are actually able to trigger the hammers. Make it fit into a Rhodes, hook it up with a midi-pickup, blend the sounds and you're off.....


Obviously an expensive and diffcult project and it won't be any lighter to gig with, than a real rhodes, but it could be sooo cool (and you'd be able to play the Rhodes as a keyboard as well).

Another option would be to develop rather supernatural capabillities, making it possible for you to take control off the keyboardplayers mind, having him play excactly what you play and at the same time!?

When you say the "top" tine, you must be referring to the highest note. You cannot do that. The length of the tines affects the pitch. That's why they are not the same length. The shorter tine, the higher pitch. However you can take the deepest tine and cut it shorter to get the right pitch. That's what I did and it works great.
But first of all make shure you are cutting to the right length (you can get a cutting chart, but I just cut it the same length as the neighbouring tines. to get best sustain file the end of the tine, so it is flat. Make shure that the tonebar-assembly is tightened really, really hard. I could not get any sustain out of mine, till I noticed how hard it should be tightened.

Bypass the tone circuit. Use a decent eq to bring out the upper mids.

Does that mean that the Rhodes may benefit from bypassing the bass-pot, if patched through a great EQ instead? Why nod just leave the bass-pot at maximum and run it through an EQ afterwards?

I managed to fix the guide pin issue. I did it using two ordinary screws, with the same thickness as the guide pins, as substitutes. The screws were off the type with the thread stopping approximately an inch and a half under the head of the screw. I cut the head off the screw and filed it to avoid friction against the plastic key. I cut a groove in the top, allowing the screw to be screwed in with a ordinary flat head screwdriver.

I drilled a hole in the guide pin rail and screwed in the first screw. Unfortunately the screw broke off, while I was screwing it in, causing great pain and lots of trouble trying to get it out. I found that it was necessary to unmount the guide pin rail, to remove the rest of the screw, but it proved not to be very diffiult and the next hole was drilled way easier this way. I managed to get both screws in place, but one of them is not seated that tight, because of the damage done while removing the ruined screw. I hope it will last. Otherwise I will have to give it another go.

I also managed to alter the action of the keyboard by using the other holes in the keys, making the action heavier. That is way better that way if you ask me.

what I am told is, that the surface has a lot to say. That is why you can have your tonebars replated at speakeasy for instance. It affects the sustain of the tonebar.

Make the lower notes less "sharp"? You mean sharp tuned or sharp sounding?


Pictures:
When you post a topic you see something called options under the selection of smileys. It says that html is off, BBCode is on... etc.
You need to use BBCode - a guide can be found by clicking on the link under Options. I used imageshack.us to upload the picture.

As I normally don't bring a digital camera when rehearsing, these pictures have been taken with my cell-phone. I hope you can see what it is. The pictures are from the upper-right corner of the harp, with a few of the highest tonebars shown on the 2nd pic.

I really don't know much about electronics, but a long time ago I posted an issue about a MKI stage 88, which suffers from strange noises, when run directly through a mixer. I noticed that this "something" shown on the pictures (is it a capacitor, or something like that??) does not appear in any other Rhodes I've seen. Is this "thing" normal on a MKI 88 Stage? Is possible that this is causing the noise issues?

Whe had the cover off one day, while the Rhodes was amplified through the mixer. As one of my bandmates touched this thing a load BANG was heard from the PA. We left it as it was, but I'm getting quite curious, getting to know what it is.

Another picture where it is seen a little more in context:

The other day while I was reading a bit in the manual for emagics EVP88, I noticed a chapter about stretched tuning. They say that stretched tuning is a technique used on acoustic pianos (mostly upright pianos). The reason why some Rhodes pianos have been tuned in stretched tuning should be to accomodate demands by pianists who use Rhodes and acoustic piano at the same time.
As far as I can understand, no other instruments use a tuning similair to "stretched tuning" therefore I see no reason to tune your Rhodes that way unless you use it alongside an acoustic piano.

Hmm... just got my broken tine fixed last week, but now I noticed that two of the guide pins under the keys of my plastic key MKII has broken off. I read that this was a general issue with plastic key MKIIs and that it is difficult to fix. But how is it best fixed? Difficult or not.
I still have one of the guide pins and my first thoughd was to super-glue it back in, but I don't believe it will last  
Then I thoughd about drilling a hole exactly where the guide pin was originally seated and inserting a wood dowel pin of the right size instead. Does anyone have an idea wether this will work? Or maybe other suggestions.

I managed to get rid of the sustain problem. I tried all sorts of things. I've fixed up grooves in my hammer tips, by cutting away some of the rubber, I've tried tightening the screw that mounts the tine to the tonebar, I've tried filing the end of the tine (read that jacked ends could cause bad sustain). In the end I tried adjusting the height of the entire tone generator a little down - that appeared to be the problem. Silly. I had several times tried to raise it a bit and afterwards I had adjusted it back to approxmiately the same position.

The top about 8 notes does not have 2 adjustment screws with springs, but just one screw and a rubber-feet.  It appears like most of the tone generators in this register needs to be loose in order to get high enough to get proper strike-line and pickup settings. I assume that the rubber feets have compressed by time. What are the names of these rubber-feets and can they be bought from for instance Major Key? I haven't seen them there.

An "F" tine (#57) broke off the other night. A am going to order a new tine and a couple of spares from Major Key, but for a start I thoughd I would just cut the tine from the lowest note to fit. However this is giving me a horrible sustain. Is that due to lower tines being made a little different (thicker? heavier?) or is rather due to me disassembly and assembly of the tone generator unit?

Gently bending the support strut straight may well solve your problem.

Where and what is this "support strut"?

I've managed to fix the two tines that where most out of angle. I did this by taking out the entire tonebar assembly and loosening the tine from the tonebar (it was impossible to loosen the screw, while the assembly was still in the Rhodes). However, it is almost impossible to get the angle right, when the assembly is not in the piano, but I managed to get it a little better and then I adjusted the rest by messing with the position of the entire assembly (loosened the two adjustment screws and forced the tonebar to one side, while tightening the screws again.

But how is sideways movement best avoided? (several of my tines seems to be able to easily get out of adjustment during transport)
How is it best adjusted?

Gently bending the support strut straight may well solve your problem.

Where and what is this "support strut"?

I've managed to fix the two tines that where most out of angle. I did this by taking out the entire tonebar assembly and loosening the tine from the tonebar (it was impossible to loosen the screw, while the assembly was still in the Rhodes). However, it is almost impossible to get the angle right, when the assembly is not in the piano, but I managed to get it a little better and then I adjusted the rest by messing with the position of the entire assembly (loosened the two adjustment screws and forced the tonebar to one side, while tightening the screws again.

But how is sideways movement best avoided? (several of my tines seems to be able to easily get out of adjustment during transport)
How is it best adjusted?

my first thoughd was, that the Tine itself was bent, but it did not appear to be the problem. But I am not sure - I m at work now, so I cannot check it, but I am pretty sure that it was the assembly that in a wrong angle. I already had a look in the manual, but I have not had the time to check it better out, but how does these screws affect the sound? As far as I understand it, it's the tine which generates the sound and the only task of the tonebar is to resonate with the tine and thereby sustaining the note.

Hi all,

I just got my very first Rhodes - a Stage 73 mkII.
It's in great condition only minor adjustments seems to be necessary for optimal use. One of them was the Ab-key in the fifth octave. The tonebar seems to loosen itself and touches the metal-support on the right, which makes an annoying buzz (not audible on the output, except for the sustain being shorter). I fastened the tonebar by tightening the adjustment screws, but is this the best way to do so? And why are there these adjustment screws? They only seem to affect the tonebar.

Another issue. One of the deepest tines is seated in a wrong angle. When the damper comes up it touches the tine besides the felt, and sometimes the tine appear to strike the tonebar, making an odd sound. How do I correct this? I've tried to loosen the "Tone Generator mounting screw" (as it's called in the manual), but it is stuck and I am afraid to force it. Should I loosen this screw to align the tine, or is there some other way to do it?