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Well, I have a bunch of stuff that could be used, I have Twins, I have Bassmans, I have Marshall Majors, but I think I put together something that might be a bit off the reservation for the purists, but I think it'll be fine..  Let see what you guys think..  It's a Stage 73 ( 1974 ) and I want to go direct out to an Alembic F2B preamp, to a McIntosh MC2300, to 2 Hardtrucker cabinets, one with a JBL D140, and the other with 2 JBL D120's and an 075 bullet horn.  What do you guys think??

Does anyone have a good pic of the underside of the suitcase 73??  I am looking to see where the mounting screws go, and where the sphinx glideson the are placed.   Also, would anyone have a source for the plastic circular inserts on the top of the suitcase speaker bottom.??  Thanks Bill

well, at least the harp is making some progress...

Have you measured the distance from the end of the tine to to pickup?  Is it the same as the others, you also may have a bad pickup.  Keep me posted..

Thank you very much for the tip Ben, but eventually this Rhodes will be for sale, and I want the new owner to enjoy many years of joy and beautiful music.  I'm not one to take the easy way out, I'd rather do it the right way, and know there is another wonderful Rhodes in the world, regardless of profit.  This is all being done as a labor of love and respect for the instrument.  It's going g to be awesome, if it takes a bit more time and money to make it so, so be it.  I'll find the pickups, if not, I'll set up to rewind them myself.

That's great news, now I have to fnd someone who has a bunch for sale at a good price, so I don't have to spend all the time rewinding

Can the red/orange pickups be used in place of the white ones??

Well., checked the harp, and as it stands, I have 17 dead pickups 

Pardon me Gents, if I may chime in.  Has anyone looked into having it done by an auto body shop?  They paint plastic ALL THE TIME, they have the special additives to make it slightly flexible, etc.  Just a thought..

Thank you very much for the heads up, I will definitely check them out.  If they are bad, I have the magnet wire to rewind them, it's just another added step of aggravation..  Just a quick question, what year dod they start putting the felt on the hammer, not the pedestal?  I will report the cond of the pickups asap.. Thanks again..

Well, let's not jump to conclusions.. this thing is pretty rough on one hand, and amazing on the other..  The tone bars MUST be re-plated due to corrosion, and grommets replaced due to age.  The hammer tips are dang near perfect, and everything else looks real nice.. the corrosion to the harp is what makes me mad.. How can people mistreat these things?  Have people no common sense?  I have a local plater that just redid my tone bars and harp bracket for $200, IN NICKEL..  I thought that was pretty good.  I am going to restore this thing, and either make some money, or learn how " expensive " an education can be...

Ok, the new one is as follows; a suitcase 73, made apparently in the 39th week of 1980.  Has the black name rail, with silver letters, has the sliders for I believe EQ, and a whole tremolo setup.  The Tolex looks like it went thru Vietnam on a bad day, but the inside is SUPER clean, but has some metal oxidation.  The keys are whiter than white, and the action is AMAZING.  Every note plays, I opened up the accessory compartment and found the original paperwork, spare tines, and all the AC cables, incl the 5 pin XLR plug.  I don't even know what this thing is, a Mark 1? Mark 2? but it looks like it was never played..  I will post pics as soon as I can..

Greetings all,  I'm a new member here, I have owned a Rhodes for about 20 years, and never even set it up.  I bought it, needing help from some kid in Manhattan in a 3 floor walk-up.  I intended to learn on this piano, but things like life got in the way, house, kids, etc.  In the end, it sat in my basement un-restored, waiting for the loving attention it deserved.  Fast forward, I got a bug on, and decided that I'm not getting any younger, and decided that THIS is the time to do it..  I dragged it out of my basement ( which looks like a musical version of Collier's Mansion ) and brought it to my buddy's store where I would have the proper space to work on it.  I am midway into having it completed, and realised how absolutely anal I am about restorations.  All the keys had yellowed, so, of course what do I do, wet sand each key, with 220, 400, 600, and then polished each one on a buffing wheel till bright white.  Next I had all the tone bars stripped and re-plated in nickel, along with the harp bracket. Good grief, what's next???  I got the VV kit to put it all together, and with the absolute BEST restoration vid from them, I am confident that it is an achievable goal.  NOW, it gets even funnier, some guy calls the store and wants to sell a suitcase 73, and did my buddy;s store want to buy it.. My buddy said he didn't have the money to lay out for a piano, and to get it into tip top shape, so he would pass.  The guy calls back this morning, if anyone wants it, they can come get it for FREE, AND it's in the same town I am.. I'm going to call the guy in the morning..  All I can hope for is the keys are still WHITE lol