Topics

1

Parts, Service, Maintenance & Repairs / Custom felts under the keys bad?

« on: January 27, 2008, 04:33:13 PM »

So I took out all of the keys on my rhodes (mk II 1980 - wooden keys) and basicallly cleaned out all of the dust around and found some spare parts such as 2 hammer tips in good condition and a tine. I also noticed that all of the metal rods where the key goes into had felts but then on top of that they had 1-3 paper felt shaped things on top of the felts . Some of these papers were missing and some only had 1 paper felt on top of the real felt so i cut out some duplicates of the paper  felt using notecards and replaced some of the ones that had 1 or no paper felts. It seams to be playing fine but was this not a good idea? Should i take these off and find a place to buy replacement paper felts or use a different paper substance to make my own paper felts?

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / The Little Blue Keyboard that could

« on: January 03, 2008, 11:28:27 AM »

I know we all had that toy keyboard back in the day that was so cool it didn't even have a brand name on it. Well i have one of those now and am spending all my time just playing it. The only problem is it can only play 2 notes at a time, it's kind a sharp the whole thing but it's not a quarter tone sharp it's like a little under that and it has internal speakrs. IS there a way to change the tuning of it and install a quarter inch output so i can run it through effects and such?

-Steve

3

Amps, Effects & Recording Techniques / Suitcase speaker muddy

« on: November 17, 2007, 02:59:29 PM »

I'm sure there's a post about this but has anyone dealt with a muddy sounding suitcase speaker cabinent? Mine just sounds muddy but when i plugged it straight from the accessory jack 1 into a fender twin reverb reissue, it sounds like the most amazing thing ever. are all the suitcases like this or is it just mine and can i do any mods on the eq rail so it could sound better?

Thanks,
Steve

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / How much weight can the cover hold?

« on: November 17, 2007, 02:40:33 PM »

Hey guys,

I have a mark II suitcase from 1980 and am thinking about purchasing a synth to sit atop of the rhodes. I was wondering how much weight is safe to put on the rhodes Mk II cover and if maybe getting a mk i cover could be good as a backup to hold more weight? I was thinking about getting either a moog Little phatty or a moog voyager so those keyboards have some weight to them.

Thanks,
Steve

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Craig Taborn sound idea

« on: September 23, 2007, 02:04:43 PM »

Hey guys.

I was just listening to the new chris potter album live at the village vanguard with craig taborn on rhodes but there is no bass player on the record. as i was listening, it sounded like there was a definent bass player so i think maybe he's got a keyboard he's playing bass on but it's all on the rhodes. So this is what  i think h'es doing and what i might try doing myself. oh and he's using a suitcase. He's running out of channel A into his more rhodes/lead sounds and back into A input. Then he's running channel B into an EQ where he turns all the high's and mids off, and an octave pedal so since the high's and mids or gone, it wont' mistake his high notes and not make the octave sound on the lower notes you dig. So this way he can basically mold his bass tone to whatever he wants wihtough affecting the chords and soloing lines. Maybe he uses an eq on channel A and turns all the bass off. I heard in an interview that he just uses pedals as he gets them and then gives them off to the next person so he could have just been experimenting but i think it could be really cool to almost split your rhodes into two channells kind of. Oh and if it works, try running the bass channel through envelope filter could sound really cool. Let me know what you guys  think.

p.s. sorry this was soooooooo loooooonnngggg.

-Steve

6

The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / when is plaing hard is too hard?

« on: September 05, 2007, 04:40:14 PM »

i am not one to play piano and especially my rhodes too hard. I actually have a lighter touch compared to some people i've seen play. The action on rhodes is pretty light. I have a friend who we sometimes jam in my room me on sax and him on my rhodes. His playing style is the kind where he really digs mostly every time he  plays and he can dig hard. Should i only jam with him in this situation occasionally to make sure he doesn't break any of my tines or should i not be too worried about it.

and i'm not one wanting to replace tines when there's no tech's around.

-Steve

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Parts, Service, Maintenance & Repairs / Building a sustain pedal

« on: August 14, 2007, 09:07:55 AM »

I know that the original sustain pedals cost over $150 and the "ugly" pedals are $100. I don't like the ugly ones because where you would press down on the foot thing just doesn't seam natural because i'ts bar and not a grooved indent. Is there a way to build my own for a pretty cheap amount because it doesn't seam like that complex of an idea or a way to make the ugly one have a sustain foot for my foot to push down so it feels natural?

-Steve

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Wanna see some live rhodes and clavinet playing in Cambridge

« on: June 26, 2007, 01:13:44 PM »

My funk/groove group is playing at this place called the Lily Pad this Wed. in cambridge from 7:30-9:30pm. Our group is called Funka-nima and you can check us out at www.myspace.com/funkanima . The only reason I'm posting it here is because our keyboard player plays a Mark I stage and a D6 clavinet. The address is 1353 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA. So if any of you guys are around and want to see some sweet live funky music with the real deal instruments, then you should come on out to the show. I hope no one gets angry that I posted this here and if so let me know and it won't happen again. Just trying to give the word out about some live music to see with a rhodes and a clav. The band is:

Steve Brickman - Sax
Jake Sherman - Rhodes & Clav
Kyle Miles - Bass
Sheldon Thwaites - Drums

www.myspace.com/funkanima

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Other Keyboards & Software Synths / waldorf zarenbourg

« on: April 17, 2007, 10:06:17 AM »

Just saw a clip from the miskmesse on the gearwire site about this thing. Is is digital, analog, metal tines? It looks kinda big so maybe it has real electronics inside i dunno. Would you choose it over the nord stage? What do you guys think

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Other Keyboards & Software Synths / If you could have 1 keyboard to do it all, what would it be?

« on: March 15, 2007, 03:26:17 PM »

We've all been on the look for a good gigging keyboard yet with the classic sounds and  the right feel. If you could choose 1 keyboard (Nord electro/stage, motif, triton, ect...) to be the perfect gigging keyboard, what would it be or would do you already have that you would call the perfect gigging keyboard if there is one?

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / $12,000 for a Mark V in the box?

« on: February 22, 2007, 11:56:01 AM »

Does this seam a little ridiculous or more of a collectors thing or i guess all the cosmetics would be perfect too. Let me know what you guys think.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Rhodes-Mark-V-Rare-still-in-the-Box-NEW_W0QQitemZ140088760852QQihZ004QQcategoryZ16220QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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Other Keyboards & Software Synths / Let's as a collective invent the next generation of keyboard

« on: January 23, 2007, 02:59:23 PM »

Alright this post is for all of those who have ideas and want to put them into creating a new type of keyboard. It can be very similar to a rhodes, clavinet, moog or it can be the most opposite form those. So post some ideas on what you have about keyboards and enough of the people on this sight are good with electronics and building stuff maybe with some other help we can create the next wave of keyboards. And lets not be jerks and go stealing other peoples ideas, this is a team effort.

My idea is to use gutt strings like on a cello or a violla in the mechanism of the clavinet but a different striking method to the key so that instead of a punchy sound it gives it a more warm rhodes sound but not tiney and more fuzzy and warm sorta like a warm guitar sound.

Let's hear what you think about that and your own ideas, pictures, diagrams, tangents, ect...

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Other Keyboards & Software Synths / New Clavinet F8?

« on: January 20, 2007, 04:44:29 PM »

It's probably just my imagination but i thought i read somewhere about a new clavinet F8 or something along those lines? Probably not but with the new rhodes coming out, isn't it time for the clavinet to make its reappearance also? (lighter rhodes + lighter Clav =      )

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / shipping a rhodes from mayraland

« on: October 08, 2006, 12:49:55 PM »

hi everyone, My friend has agreed to sell me his rhodes for $350 in good shape as long as i prepared shipping like found out what componay and how he should wrap the rhodes ect.. so all he had to do was read my directions so it wouldn't give him second thought about not giving it to me due to a difficult time trying to ship it. SO,,, what company should i get thats inexpensive to ship the rhodes and how should he wrap the rhodes so it is in as good as shape as possible. OH and it's being shipped from mayraland to florida miami area. Thanks -STeve

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Amps, Effects & Recording Techniques / 2 Pedals WTB

« on: September 27, 2006, 03:34:16 PM »

I am looking to buy one or both of two pedals. One is a delay pedal and one is a more specific electro harmonixx pedal. The delay pedal i'm thinking about getting is the Boss DD6 mainly for it's delay feature obviously and the reverse function to get some cool bill frisell john scofield stuff. Also im going to use it with my MXR Distortion + and i want a good delay that will blend with that to give a geoffry keezer mysterious rhodes solo sound. The second pedal i'm thinking about getting is the EH micro synth. I know you can just get a yamaha or korg with rhodes sounds and than effect it like that to sound like a synth but what about buying this pedal in conjuction with the rhodes? Could you get cool unique lead lines like in scofields "frieken disco" on up all night? Plus that pedal is also $250 for a small effect so is it worth it to even bother and is there other delay pedals that aren't $170 that can get me what i need which is just delay with a reverse mod? Thanks

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Amps, Effects & Recording Techniques / 2 Pedal Questions

« on: September 26, 2006, 01:59:26 PM »

I am looking to buy one or both of two pedals. One is a delay pedal and one is a more specific electro harmonixx pedal. The delay pedal i'm thinking about getting is the Boss DD6 mainly for it's delay feature obviously and the reverse function to get some cool bill frisell john scofield stuff. Also im going to use it with my MXR Distortion + and i want a good delay that will blend with that to give a geoffry keezer mysterious rhodes solo sound. The second pedal i'm thinking about getting is the EH micro synth. I know you can just get a yamaha or korg with rhodes sounds and than effect it like that to sound like a synth but what about buying this pedal in conjuction with the rhodes? Could you get cool unique lead lines like in scofields "frieken disco" on up all night? Plus that pedal is also $250 for a small effect so is it worth it to even bother and is there other delay pedals that aren't $170 that can get me what i need which is just delay with a reverse mod? Thanks

-Steve