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Here's the recording.  The initial loud sound is what happens when I turn on the suitcase.  Buzzing stays and does not vary when I play a few chords (with the volume at 0).  Then I turn up the volume slowly and the buzzing plus something else gets louder, it starts to play notes/feedback at about 8 before i bring it back down.  It's 23 seconds.

No distortion/buzz when fiddling with the vibrato knobs.  It definitely gets louder with the volume though.  I guess it's a ground thing.  I'm not much of an electronics person but it seems like a loose wire of some sort.  I pulled the side part out and saw some stray leaves etc. lingering in the wires.  I emptied it out but it's still there.  Any thing I can do on my own?  I just want to figure out my options before I take it in which is obviously a schlep. 

The buzzing sound is definitely coming from the speakers but the actual piano sound comes through crystal clear and no difference for anything whether I turn the volume knob up or down.  It's just that I'm unable to play very softly as it is still quite loud on 0, plus the buzzing is annoying. 

Hello,

I just picked up a MK II suitcase rhodes however there's a loud hum/buzzing I can't seem to figure out.  It's coming from the top end of the side plate, if that makes any sense.  Is there a common cause for this kind of thing?  Another oddity is that the piano is still audible when the volume is at 0.  Otherwise everything else works well, just the minimum volume problem and the annoying buzzing.  I plugged the keyboard part to another amplifier and the sound is clean so I think it's coming the amplifier part. 

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
E

I've got a damaged satellite speaker on my hands and need to get it looked at.  Does anyone know of anyone in the NYC area?  
Thanks in advance,

I was wondering: instead of shipping a rhodes as is, why not pack the individual elements and then have the new owner put it together IKEA style?  There could be three packages 1. the shell of the keyboard; 2. the tone bar assembly and 3. the keys/hammers.  Everything would be bubble-wrapped, with foam etc.  It would seem to be a lot less stressful with a higher chance of it arriving safely.  

Has anyone every tried this method?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Rhodes-Piano-Bass-Very-Very-good-condition_W0QQitemZ130068079155QQihZ003QQcategoryZ16220QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Hey thanks for the advice.  As it turns out, it is indeed the pickups.  

"sounding more than one note":  when I play a certain note, it sounds like there are two notes being played.  "Sounds like" because I hear the vibration that comes when two notes are less than a semi-tone apart.   It doesn't happen all that often and is probably due to the spring.  I might take it out and bend it a little so that it stays in place.  It's not a terribly annoying problem, but eventually I'd like to restore that issue.

What about replacing the hammer tips?  What kind of difference is there?  Would the action be smoother?  The sound better?  I figured I'd get some feedback before I drop some money on a whole set.

Thanks again.

Greetings and Happy New Year!

I recently purchased a 1977 Rhodes Mark I and have been fixing it up.  A number of people from this site have suggested replacing the hammer tips.  Granted the hammer tips are dented, but my Rhodes sounds pretty good and I was wondering what the difference would be with new hammer tips.  Same with the damper felts.  

Also I have some dead notes (no sound), and after checking the pickups (which work) can I assume that it's the tines that are dead?  

Last thing, three of the notes have a "tuning" problem.  I can get them in tune, but then they not only go out of tune, but they sound more than one note?!?!  Is that a tine problem again?

Thank you thank you for reading this!  Any suggestions would be awesomely appreciated.

F