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I got a Juno 6 for a very nice price a few weeks back, but it has a problem. I was just going to have somebody fix it, but had an issue with my car come up, and long story short, I won't have enough to get it fixed for a while. I've gotten pretty good at electronics after fixing up some pedals, the Orchestron, and an old drum machine, and figured it'd be worth seeing if I could fix it myself, depending on the size of the issue. I've narrowed it down to voice card number 3 as the one with an issue, as it is always the 3rd note after turning on the synth that does not play, and then after that it is every 6th.

I've done a fair bit, at least a few hours worth, of searching, but haven't been able to find anything about the voice cards (which really aren't even cards on the 6/60) because the stuff on the 106's just absolutely drown it out. So, I figured I might as well ask here. I'm wondering if anybody knows of any schematics, or any guides, or any service manuals or anything of that nature. Or if anybody has messed around with one of these themselves.

Any help is really appreciated, and thanks for reading!

I've been looking to get a chorus pedal for my Rhodes, but haven't really been able to find a consensus on which one is best (aside from the pricey CE-1).
Around $100 is the budget, what's the best chorus pedal I can get for around that?

The CE-5 looks promising, but I've read it sounds a bit sterile due to it being digital. Also, I'd be using it with a Deluxe MemoryMan and a Phase 90, if that has any effect on which one would work best.

Thanks!

I have an opportunity to get a working Micromoog for around $400, and I was wondering if anybody knew if that was a good price. I also wondering if anybody had some thoughts on a Micromoog as a first synth. I've done some research, but can't find anything definite.

Also, anybody know if it's capable of the bass and other synth lines from Chameleon? I'd love to be able to get those sounds.

After plenty of distractions, I've finally gotten back to working on my Rhodes. I currently only have two speakers in the suitcase cab, being a pair of original-era 32ohms. One of the speaker's voice coils has been knocked and will rub against the frame making this awful 'flappy' super-overdriven germanium-fuzz type tone when the volume goes past 5.

I don't really want to buy another 3 of the 32ohm speakers especially since they tend to be pricey and the speakers I have ordered felt cheapy and were damaged in the mail.

So, I'm looking for a full set of two pairs of speakers to use in my cab. Any suggestions on what would be good?

A couple days ago an ad for a Vako Orchestron popped up on Craigslist near me, and I managed to get it for $300. For those unfamiliar with it, it is an early 70's sample keyboard like the Mellotron, except it uses 12" film discs to store sound and not tapes.

After a couple days of really frustrating work, I've gotten it to work most of the way. I'm having rampant speed issues, but they're fixable. I can see why a lot of people just tossed these out though, it is a pain to work on. It's pulled apart kind of easy, but some parts are almost inaccessible, like the spindle for the discs and where the belt for the idler wheel-like drive goes. It also needs a full cap job as it is really noisy. I'm pretty lucky in how little repair it really needs though. I replaced the bulb, the rubber on the pinch roller of sorts, oiled moving parts, Deoxit-ed connectors, repaired key contacts (all bent and corroded). More than anything it needs a new belt, but I haven't found a 2" diameter O-ring yet.

I love the sound. It has all 8 discs, but by far my favorite is Vocal Choir. Very hollow and murky. Goes very well through a powerful amp like a Twin Reverb. I also tried mixing it with a slight bit of a phaser, and like that a lot too. Covers a bit of the noise up and adds another layer of murky depth.

Here's some videos, not mine.
Vocal Choir: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRZRi3V4ptY
Violins: (which sounds great with the pitch lowered) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhkIOw4TyXE&feature=relmfu
Kraftwerk used it on their mid-70's work, very notably on Trans Europe Express http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBGNlTPgQII&feature=related

And last, some somewhat low quality pictures. I seem to have misplaced my good camera.

After a lot of distractions and a sudden increase of free time, I've gotten back to working on my 88. I fully disassembled the piano and pulled everything out.

Due to the humid environment the piano lived most of its life in, a lot of the screws were near-impossible to remove. One of the screws with the bar connecting the harp to the frame stripped so heavily that I'm unable to unscrew it. I got the nut about halfway, and then the screw completely stripped. I also had two screwheads break off for the cheekblock. I was able to get the cheekblock cap off, but I'm going to have to remove the wooden inside. It's heavily water damaged anyways. I've never seen a orange and purple piece of wood, but that's exactly what it is. I also noted something odd on the damper rod assembly. The wooden dowel has the felt on the top and bottom, and on the top, something had chewed away at the felt. Really weird as this is the only spot in the entire piano with any trace of insects. Also, is the wooden assembly that holds the dowel is not attached to the bottom of the case. Is that how it's supposed to be?

I sanded down all the rust off my harp frame and painted it semi-gloss black. It's a lot easier to handle knowing I won't get rust absolutely everywhere when I move it. I think it looks a lot better than the goldish green coating, especially since there wasn't much of that left.

I plan on getting to the balance rail pins soon as how rusty some of them are makes those keys have horrid action. There's this thread on replacement: http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=7030.0 and on a previous thread of mine BumpyRhode said to

Take some plastic wrap and wrap the keybed tight letting the pins push through.
This will help prevent any cleaner from staining the frame while you're working on the pins.
From there I might do two things. Suspend the frame upside down over a tarp and spray
all the pins with PB Blaster. This is why you hang it upside down so it won't drip down to the wood.

About 20 of the pins are really rusty and since everything else that has rusted has at least some pitting I'm thinking that the balance pins will probably be pitted too. Would pitting cause extra friction?

I still have a bad bulb in my preamp. I ordered the bulbs from a thread on here, but they don't fit under the caps. So, does anybody know if there is a source for replacements? Or should I see about modifying the circuit to use something else? I believe VV has a rebuild kit. Anybody have experience with this?

I've only gotten one working 32 ohm speaker, so I've been considering talking to my tech about the mods for the power amp he's come up with over the years. I think it allows me to use 8 ohm, and I'm and getting four 8ohm speakers will cost me less than trying to get three more working 32 ohm speakers, which I don't think are all that great of speakers anyways. If I were to do this, do any of you know what would be good speakers to use for the cab? I don't have much knowledge in instrument speakers.

And the biggest, most ambitious mod I'm sort of preparing to do is chop it from an 88 into a 73. The upper range is water damaged and just doesn't sound good, and the size of the 88 is kind of unwieldly. I'd like to be able to fit it into my Taurus as opposed to my dad's truck. The cab fits fine sitting in the back, but the 88 is 3 inches too long.  If I chop it, I could swap some parts and cut some others. It'd allow me to keep the lower range of the 88 (a reason why I got it) yet have the smaller size, less weight, and hotter signal of the 73. The main issues I can see right now are shortening/replacing the harp frame, shortening the piano bed frame, figuring what I'm going to do about the screw holes and the damper pedal hole, shortening/replacing the damper bar. I'll be doing a lot of research into this before I make any sort of commitment to doing it, but it solves quite a few problems and I'd like to do it.
I currently have only $120-ish into this piano and I'm thinking that doing the chop will give me a unique Rhodes that meets my wants a bit better and costs me less money and hassle (although not work) than selling the 88 and getting a 73 suitcase from the same era. I'm thinking I should be able to get the whole entire piano chopped and restored and stay under $800
I know some of you guys have experience with cutting pianos down into a smaller size, and so if you have any key info or tips, I'd be very grateful. Also if anybody has a full set of dimensions for a 73 suitcase or any parts I'll be needing that are for sale (list below), I'd be very grateful as well.

Here's a list of things I'll need for the Rhodes chop:
A set of 73 suitcase top dimensions, including where holes on the bottom are.
73 MkI rail (can be passive or active, prefer a "Fender Rhodes" logo)
73 harp top
Possibly a 73 case top. See below.

Here's what I should have leftover:
88 MkI rail (active, no logo)
88 harp top in decent condition, some scratches, one somewhat thick, overall 6-7/10
Possibly an 88 case top. I know there was somebody looking for an 88 case top from the mid-70's era not too long ago. I figure the case will be probably the most difficult cut of this chop, so I would be up for saving the 88 lid and some effort and doing a sort of trade/sell-ish deal for a 73 case top.



Also as a heads up to anybody who removes rust from their tines by sanding/scotchbriting, make sure you put an anti-rust coat or something of the sort. I didn't and they've rusted over some again.

Wow this is a long post. Thanks for reading and thanks for the input!

There's a Wurlitzer 111 for sale near me (some of you might have seen it), and it's kind of grabbed hold of my curiosity. I've done a fair bit of searching, but I haven't been able to find a whole lot of information, let alone pictures.

I'm kind of interested in it, but it's currently $300, which I feel is too much. It right off the bat has a broken reed and two notes that don't sound loudly. It plays though, which means I wouldn't have to replace any tubes or anything like that, or at least immediately.
One peculiar thing is, is that in the picture (not a very good one at that) the model number doesn't look a whole lot like "111". It looks more like "112". The picture is of too low of quality, but the last digit doesn't really look like a 1.


So, in not being able to find any info on them, and having no experience in Wurlis, I have some basic questions.

First, what are these pianos worth? I've gotten the idea that the 112-era Wurlis don't have a whole lot of value and are a huge pain to work on, so they really only hit around $400--ish.

Does anybody know what color these usually are? I know 112s are that sort of purpleish tan color, but the 111 for sale here is a black, but it looks like it's painted over a purple surface.

How does the sustain pedal work on a Wurli, and how difficult is it to make one? The Rhodes sustain pedal is pretty straightforward, but the Wurli seems more complex.

What sort of output does it have? 112's have either the built-in speakers, a headphone out, or an aux. out, right? Would either one of these be suitable for running to an amp?


Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
And any advice on what price I should see if I can get, if it's even worth messing with, is even more so appreciated.

I got the vv grommet set and started on the left 0 bars. I'd read about how the original screw.s can be bent, but I figured it was only on the later Rhodes. Not so.

Is there an easy and effecient way to rotate the tines a couple degrees? They aren't perpendicular with the tone bars and end up being too far away from the pickups. And what size is the bolt? I had a 5/16 driver, but it was either the wrong size or the tines are on there too well for me to get off by hand.


Sorry for the iffy picture, computer died and I have tp use my phone.

I have an old Electro-Voice 676 (being the Doors fan and all), and so I've been just storing it in the bubble wrap and mailer box it came in. I don't care much for doing that though, and was thinking of making a case. Although, if I can buy a case, I'd rather do that.

So, does anybody make affordable cases that would be good for mainly storing the mic? If so, any peculiar one that'd go along better with the EV? And preferably hold the cable too?
Note: I don't have the original EV box.

Thanks for the help.

So the pair of Rhodes speakers I bought a bit ago came in yesterday, and I'm looking to install them myself. My amp tech's busy this week, and I'll have to do this when I eventually get a second pair (still looking) anyways.
I've scourged the internet for a couple hours now and have really only been able to find that factory correct is that one pair goes on front-back on the left side, and the second pair goes on the same on the right.

I have the two wires that connect to the two-pin plugs, and know which wire (white) is positive, and know which prongs on the speakers are positive (red dot), but I don't know how to wire them up to be parallel.


So in short, how do I hook up the the second speaker to the first?

I've dug through the site for a couple hours now, and can't seem to find anywhere where I can get the bulbs for the vibrato in the preamp. I have a Peterson pre-amp, by the way. I only need one, but I plan on replacing both while I'm messing around with it.
I recall reading somewhere that they're easily found, but nevertheless, I can't seem to find where I read that.


A link to a place selling them would be fantastic, but anything is appreciated. Thanks.


I saw they had them at CAE, but $6 a pop is a bit steep. Where does Vintage Vibe get theirs from? I looked on their site, but I don't think they sell just the bulb.

I finally got some vinyl copies of the big Supertramp albums and really got to wondering how they got that electric piano tone that's in most of the songs, especially Logical Song, Goodbye Stranger, and Bloody Well Right. The pianos don't sound like any Rhodes I've heard, so I was wanting to know if anybody knows what type of e-piano they used? And how they got the tone?

I hope they used a Rhodes, I love that tone, and I'd love it even more if I could get mine to sound like it, even if it was only close. I'm thinking after I get a Mellotron, I'll buy a second Rhodes and have it dedicated to that Supertramp epiano sound, if that's what it is.

Hello, I'm looking for a pair of speakers to a Rhodes suitcase cabinet. Preferably the ones from around the early-mid seventies with the blue circle label that says "Fender Musical Instruments", before they changed to a different brand.

Send me a PM. Thanks.

This is kind of an obscure question to ask, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
I have a friend who plays bass, and he especially loves to play slap style, but the director of our jazz band won't allow him to play slap in any of the songs we do. At the same time, I almost have my Rhodes fully restored, and would really like to get a chance to play it/show it off to more than just myself.

We decided that we'd try to play a song together (along with our drummer buddy) at the next band concert, but I don't really know what we could do. It could be a full song, but I'm doubtful that there's an actual song that just has a Rhodes, bass/slap bass, and drums. A sort of glorified jam would work, but we lack the knowledge of jazz/funk/etc. theory and structure to churn out something good.


As a side note, if anybody knows of any good sources for learning jazz/funk structure, as well as basic Fender Rhodes theory (as it's quite a bit different than playing the acoustic piano or the combo organ), then that'd be great. I'd love to take lessons, but from what searching I've done, any offered around me are either straight-up classical piano, or a deal where you learn to play songs instead of how to play music.

Thanks.

As a side note, I can't play by ear much. I can get individual notes, but chords are pretty much out of the question.

Hello, I'm new to the forum.

Anyways, I bought a Fender Rhodes/Rhodes (my first) yesterday off Craigslist for $350. It's in sad shape though, the metal has corroded all over, and something is wrong in the electronics, as I get nothing out of the cab, but I can faintly hear the passive signal out of the accessory ports over a whole load of noise and scratchiness. The action is actually pretty nice for it having sat in a basement for 15-20 years, and I shouldn't have much to fix beyond rust removal and electronics and general maitenince.

The reason I said Fender Rhodes/Rhodes is because it's a transition model. The cab is a Fender Rhodes, the top is a Rhodes with Fender Rhodes guts, but all contained by the Rhodes style case. It has the hybrid hammers, felt on the keys, and other signs of the Fender Rhodes, but the inside stamp says Rhodes. The serial number is 10958, and the blue number is (from what I can read) 42 74.

Mechanical-wise, it just needs cleaning and general repair. Nothing crazy like cracked keys or broken hammers. It's pretty far out of tune, especially the bottom octave. Tines need adjusting, grommets need replacing, pickups need moving, rust needs removing, felts need replacing.  But the tolex is all there. Except for the bottom side of the top, where it sits on the cab. That ripped up in moving it (big piano, small car) but it'll glue back down.

I've done some trouble-shooting with the electronics, and as far as I can tell (having not looked inside the cab) is that it's not really just one big thing. I think the preamp is fine, but I can't tell. I know it needs wire replacement for the wire that runs from the top of the harp all the way down to the preamp box, as well as the rca connector. As for the cab, it turns on and hums. The hum is pretty loud too, and stays constant despite fiddiling with the preamp. Although, if you turn the vibrato on, you can hear it make 'thumps' to the speed set. The patch from the top to the cab is faulty as well. Wiggling it on the output causes to pop, snap, and reduce/increase the volume of the 'thumps' from the vibrato. Holding it one way causes the hum to be replaced with scratchiness like when my Twin Reverb makes when it warms up. And the light on the cab doesn't light up.

I know a good amp tech who is a keyboard player himself, and probably will have had experience with a Fender Rhodes amp, but there's not really anybody around that could really take a look at the piano side of it.


All in all, it's a pretty good deal because even with the roughness of it, the action isn't that bad. It's stiff, but not cruddy. And it was $350, so by the time I get what I want replaced, and put in the hours, it should be less than $700 for sure. Probably more of around $550-$600. Anyways, I was hoping if you guys could help me out on answering questions I/I'll have, and help me out on tracking down the issue with no sound.

Also, is it possible to wash grille cloth? Even with sponge or dishcloth and soapy water, it should clean up some more than it's wonderful shade of brown that it is now.


And I have pics from before I did anything to it. They're attached.