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I'm having mine done right now. Mine was having issues though but I'd say if they are original and you're having the preamp done, might be good to do the power amp too.

Krischu, I wouldn't be bothered by the comment from Tunelab. I agree with them. I don't think they are necessarily talking about stretching the extreme registers a little, but rather more about temperament and inharmonicity due to varying piano types, string length, string tension in certain registers etc. Things that are not present in a Rhodes piano. I tried using an ETD (not Tunelab) once out of curiosity and it was not good. I agree with Steveo's method. If you start stretching too much, you'll be hearing beats (but not in a good way!).

Sold

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

Alan, yes for sure it's pretty clear to me that the escapement on this piano is too high and was planning to shave them down. I like to play fairly hard but there are a majority of notes that don't even sound on a medium strike. Just was curious if there was a factory measurement as a base starting point or reference. (or to see if these were way off like someone had replaced them already)

Thanks for the video Glen. I did watch that ages ago and forgot about it.

Unfortunately my table saw has seen better days and I don't think I can get a precise enough cut so I'm thankful to have wood worker friends.

Thanks

Does anyone have measurements for their wood harp supports? I suppose they may be different from piano to piano but just wondered if there was a factory measurement. I read in one of these forum threads that the height is different between the action rail side (back) and key side (front). Is this correct?

I definitely have too much escapement but before I shave these down I was going to try to make some. Well, have my woodworker friend make them.

These are what mine are on a '74 Stage 73 key:

Bass: 4 13/32" action rail side, 4 3/8" key side
Treble: 4 7/16" both sides

Thanks

Okay never mind...I just scraped with a blade and I think it's all good.

I'm replacing the hammer tips on my '80 Mk II. I did this a few years ago but haven't been happy with the sound so am trying a few things. My question is this, when I removed the tips this time I noticed a layer of glue hardened on the plastic hammers. So the glue that I had used came off pretty easy and was "rubbery". This looks like was the original glue or at least from someone previous and was very hard like the plastic, I'm guessing cyanoacrylate and not coming off. Do you think this will affect the adhesion of the tips and if so any recommendations for removing? Acetone? It's not terribly thick but I'm not getting just the plastic of hammers. I didn't have any tips come off the first time but some seemed not to adhere great. Some came off very easy as well.

I removed the bass harp shim from both my Mk II and late 70's Mk I. The escapement was pretty huge. There are options for adding thinner shims (VV makes some and there are threads on here suggesting adhesive cabinet repair material from hardware store. Sorry I forget the actual name.) I found I didn't need to. Some say you will experience ground issues with bare aluminum but I have not experienced that.

Anyone know of another source for buying balance rail shims? VV wants to charge me $8.50 for shipping. Love those dudes but c'mon. I get sax reeds shipped from CA for $2.50 I'll either have to wait until I need more supplies or hopefully find another option.

Thanks

That is a good point. I think what I'm going to do is try to get one from the hardware store just to get me through until the next time I need to do a substantial order from VV.

Thanks for the info David!

I know, it was kind of a stupid question or poorly phrased. I just didn't want to order a couple screws from VV. But I live in the woods so I didn't want to drive 12 miles to the hardware store just to find out I have to order a couple screws from VV.

Anyone know if I can get something at the hardware store for these or are they too specialized? I'm talking about the screw that mounts the tone generator to the tone bar. I only need one at this point. Thanks.

Ha! Thanks for screwing off work to respond with such an informative post. I would gladly bring my piano to you if time, money and driving distance were not factors. Instead I'll have to see what I can do to not have to choose between having a 73 key muddy sounding piano or a 50 key (or so) great sounding one.

Yes, let me clarify...the whole range from D (below middle C) to the bottom is not right, although the lowest few notes are pretty good. So I don't think it's tines or springs. The strike line for the bass end is not right. However, from the top down to the Eb just above that D it's perfect. Seems weird to me that the Eb can sound so good and the next note down is awful but maybe that's not out of the ordinary.

I left one screw in the treble side to find strikeline, maybe I'll set the bass side and adjust the treble and see if I can get the same results from the mid and treble.

Hi All,

I've been experimenting with my '78 MI 73 for the past year or so to get the optimum sound. I moved the strikeline once and it helped a bit. I did it again and it really improved except the lower couple of octaves were thunky so I moved it back. After many months I put it back to this spot and this is really where it needs to be. The middle and upper registers sound great. I've got most of the lower octaves to play at least but not great. There are a few that are really thunky: D and D flat below middle C and F-F# below those. I've adjusted escapement to try to improve it. I also have the bass end shim removed and tried putting it back in to no avail. I checked the really thunky notes and the tines are the proper length.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

"You need a camera connection kit for connecting USB interfaces to iPad. Most new midi interfaces work just fine with any iOS device. Just buy the Neo-Soul Keys with excellent Rhodes samples, pick up any keyboard with midi and there you have it, feather light Rhodes rig"


Yes but it sounds and responds absolutely nothing like a Rhodes.

Has anyone tried bjammerz suggestion (in other threads) to separate the harp from the piano. I'd be interested to hear if anyone is doing this. My concern with this would be stripping the screw threads and just carrying it safely so not to damage any tines or pickups/ wires.

It may be a pain for every gig but in your situation it could help with the stairs. Personally, I would hack up the walls to make a wider stairway before hacking up my rhodes.

Thanks for the reply...

They work fine even with the old felts. I wanted to get another opinion before sticking new felts on because I've never seen them like this. So yeah, I'll go with them and just iron out the tension area if there are any issues.

I did flatten out one of the upper octave strips but I like your tip about using a piece of wood.

Thanks!

Hi All,

Been reading this forum for over a year now but first post so a big shout out to all of you for all the great info. I just bought a
Mark II 73 in good shape but noticed the damper arms have a very exaggerated bend in the pad section especially in the bass end. I'm guessing this is for the longer tine vibration. So is this okay or do you think it will affect performance? It seemed okay other than needing new felts. I need to replace the 5th octave strip anyway. Just wondering if I need to replace the others.

Sure wish those good dudes at VV would manufacture damper arm strips. Nudge nudge wink wink.

I've attached some pics to see what I'm talking about. I also attached a pic of a tall Smuttynose Brown Ale in salute to all for your diligent help.

Thanks,
Tom

I have a Vintage Vibe Tine Bomb preamp for sale in NH. Here is a link to the Craigslist listing:

http://nh.craigslist.org/msg/4459217930.html

Asking $100.