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i had a chance to do some further investigating having both the 76 and 77 in the same room hooked up to the same amp. even went as far as swapping the harps to see if i could hear a difference in the tines or pickups.

interestingly, i narrowed the difference down to the worn out hammers on the 76!. the rubber must be more dried out causing a bit more of a percussive effect, also the fact that they have grooves in the rubber might affect it a bit. maybe increasing the surface area of the strike.

anyway, its all in the hammer tips. not the pickups, tines, or anything else.

a friend of mines 1976 stage piano seems to sound quite a bit different that my newly purchased 1977 stage. im guessing this would come down to setup, but wanted to see if there were any parts that differ between the 2?

when i say different i mean a bit louder, bassier at max bass, and more tine bell sound and harmonics.  basically fatter and buzzier/bellier  (which i prefer) instead of tight and focused.

i took a good look at both inside, and they look identical, except the 76 seems to have its harp mounted deeper in on the left side than the right. is this a 'trick'? also looks like the tines on the 76 are slightly angled downward toward the hammers, starting a little higher than the 77.

Ive recently picked up a 1972 suitcase 88 (just the piano without the amp) and in its life it looks like its been adjusted and re-adjusted a few times.

after some trial and error, moving the harp around and adjusting the escapement, i got in in the range of what sounds best, however at some point along the line someone either replaced the tips or cut down the existing ones so the contact the tine basically flat on.  

This seemed to cause the sound to be a bit muted on many keys and maybe harder to control the dynamics than other rhodes ive played (too loud or to soft no in between) . so..

i cut some of the tips on a few keys on an angle and on these keys the dynamics are better and i seem to get a cleaner bark.

the question is this:
what kind of angle if any should i cut into these hammer tips?

hi, new to the forum, i have mk2 stage currently, the sound sample on the history page of this site says its a 1975 mk1, and it sounds different  than my early '80 piano.  
curious, what other years besides 75 would sound like that?(more or less, i know setup makes a big difference)
according to some guys a 76 would sound different, what about say a '73 or '74?

It seems to me the early 70's rhodes sound quite dark/warm.  what would contribute most to that 'warmth'

will replacing the two large electro caps help with hum?