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Out side of re-drilling holes, this will only work in very small incriments. My recomendation would be to check and make sure all the tolex is still glued to the case properly. It is possible that it was positioned correctly, but lifting tolex is gumming your action.

Hmmm... Maybe I don't need the original pre amp. I could use a new set of tear drop hammers and about 5 new raymac tines.



Actually I am thinking of having my buddy take a look at it to make sure all parts are within spec. The only problem is that he has high rates and a hell of a bench fee since he mainly does one off custom clones of mic pre's and compressors. On that note, I want to know what this thing sounds like through a grace M101 or an Amek purepath. Mmmmmm fat.

So the pic I stole off of vintage vibe was your old preamp.

as well if the preamp doesn't work, i may make a new name rail as to not muck with the original, and stuff my seymour duncan pickup booster/maxon OD808/MXR phase90/ and some random echo pedal into it so i can have a monster rhodes. however i would much rather have the original pre...

i am fairly skilled with a soldering iron... my friends know me as the mad scientist... but humbly, i am no where as skilled as they think. however it is something that i feel is well within my grasp, even though my schematics reading ability isn't what it used to be... mainly i just dont want to fork out 150 bucks for something that with an hours work could cost you just about 30. and for a preamp that could or could not function when i get it powered up, not much less a preamp that from what i understand have alot of parts that are not produced any more. If i make a power supply for the board i will post a step by step for those in my situation.

so really to test it, all i would need would be 13.5V DC power supply, a plastic project box, a TRS plug, 1/4 in jack and some wiring. wire the ring up to 13.5 v line, share ground on piano out and power supply and wire the signal through to the 1/4 in jack. am i missing anything on building a power supply box that vintage vibe likes to charge 150 bucks for? does any one have one for the jordan pre that you can take the top off and check out?

Well I am glad that I can cause such confusion...
Oh well I have found out more through this forum than anywhere.
Is there anyway that some one could use a multimeter and check the voltage/amps off the jordan power amp to power up the pre? Is it the same 15v DC that the other pre's require? I really want to at least get the pre back to working condition before I tackle anything else.

nope, it came with the piano, I just stole the pic from vintage vibe...

unfortuatly I am not at the same house now to check, but i am pretty sure they are 12's and this is the preamp that I have as well...

which as far as i have seen, only has a mono version, and no stereo. does any one know of a way to test this preamp with out the power amp to power it. What is the power requirement to get it powered up and over what connector. if i could use the mounting points that someone already made it would be fine as i can't change those holes now... maybe replace the outside fuse holder with a sweet green or purple power light. mainly if i can get the stock preamp working that would be fantastic.

leave the monitoring to something superior than a 40 years old amp.

Ooooh, that's almost heresy. I happen to agree though.

jehovah, jehovah. :wink:

I think I like 40 years old speakers though.

Mark II

I tottaly agree, sounds way better through my Vox Royal guardsman 2x12 cab than my full stack.... a little raunchier, but so much more rhodes funkiness...
New speakers just don't break up the same.

there is no date code on the bottom of the harp besides the serial, i have not seen any on any keys when straightening all the pins to smooth out the key action. the only production stamps i have found are the ones posted. i have not had the time or spare room to fully pull it apart to "really clean" the piano so there may still be one lurking inside there somewhere.
it does have full wooden hammer shanks, and they are all straight as well. the teardrop hammers could use a little TLC though. they are pretty grooved, but still mainly playable.

its getting there playability wise... it has been abused and neglected for far too long, and well lets say its been a lot of work over the past six months. but considering what i paid for it, its all worth it.

i would like to restore the cab fully, but would prefer to keep the integrity of the instrument as much as possible. the only problem i am finding is that absolutely no parts are available for rhodes of this vintage. If nothing else i am going to make a frame to go on the inside and cover it with grill cloth and a sustain pedal foot plate to bring it back to at least looking correct. This rhodes will not see live use, and will just stay in our studio along side our organ and all of our other boards, so its not imperative that i restore the amplifier. but the cab does look kinda trashy right now...

Here are some of the pics i promised of my sparkle top, sorry about the quality, all i had was my blackberry to take pictures with. there are three printed numbers i can see. 2 on the hammer action, and one on the gold sticker on the harp. i still cant find one on the body anywhere.



you can see where some fool had previously mounted a power supply on the back side of the namerail...

serial # A-0186

Leather may not be a bad idea... It would give it a little bit edgier sound as well which I like the idea of. However due to the action delemas it may add too much width and cause some hammer/damper sticking issues...

i will most definitely post up some pics. it is at my old bands house right now so that may take a little bit to get over there... my only reservation about sanding the hammers is that i have a few keys that you have to pound the keys to get them to sound. so if i do this it may throw everything out of whack. i already replaced all the damper felts on the board and that helped tremendously. but slowly but surely i am going through tuning, fixing sticking dampers and funky sounding keys. but the work is slow.
would lowering the escapement on these keys help the action issue, even though it would limit your adjustability on the tone bar assembly? is 3/16ths the correct escapement on this piano.
unfortunately the cabinet has been gutted... no electronics period. once the funds free up i plan on fixing the stock pre-amp that some one previous to me had tried to wire up to a makeshift power supply to use sans power amp... however i lust for the origional for the time being.
oh and for those that own one of these and have worn felts on the tone bar assembly...
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-Black-Felt-Washers-12?sku=420800
those felts are perfect and way less pricey than what a piano supply house recomends.

so i picked up what i am assuming is a 65-67 sparkle top, since all of the action is wood, and have run into a couple of issues during restoration. First off and most important, what can i do about heavily grooved tear drop hammers. i have read that you can shave the top as long as they are all shaved equally and only to about 3/16ths off. i would under take this but i am already having some action issues.  
I have also had to remove the preamp that resides within the chassis, as it no longer functions due to no amp or speakers inside the suitcase... but with passive electronics and a seymour duncan pickup booster as the pre-amp i get a large amount of buzz. what can i do to remedy this, shielding the underside of the harp cover?
I also have a few dead tines, is there anything i can do to try to resurrect them as they are the early untapered raymac tines? also as these are really expensive to buy replacements for.
i picked it up for ridiculously cheep so i am not too concerned with keeping it stock, but due to the rarity of this piano i want to keep it within reason. as long as everything looks stock i am happy, but i at least want to get it playable across the entire piano before i go to far...

for those of you who own early sparkle tops what are your recommendations?