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When you say original stage preamp, you mean the volume and bass boost knobs?

If so, they are only passive controls and its likely the piano will not work correctly with the suitcase speaker input. I actually think those suitcase cabinet jacks are line outputs and not input jacks at all. But maybe they can double as line inputs. Someone else may be able to confirm this.

The more ideal solution would be to switch out the passive controls on the stage for a modern suitcase compatible preamp that can then connect to the suitcase cabinet with the appropriate 5-pin cable. That would let you at least get closer to the original suitcase setup.

You'd want to be certain the cabinet amp and 5-pin outputs/input are working beforehand.

There is also the concern that the sustain pedal would work correctly. The stage piano case baseboard is thicker than the original suitcase piano base. You've also got the leg sockets to be dealing with so there may need to be mods done to make the cabinet pedal rod work with the stage piano.

Just looked at Vintage Vibes replacement and you're dead right.. the thread is a wood screw. You should be good to pilot a hole above or below then. There is no nut there. My bad.

Maybe get it to a tech to get that broken screw

To put in another screw, you'll be threading wood. What's there is a threaded nut and for a good reason. You've snapped fatigued metal already purely from pedal pressure. Wood is not going to hold up as long and that is why it was done using a nut day 1. As for position, the location that is there is the ideal pivot position for the rail. Any other location will not be the right one.

if you can remove the damper rail side pins or the brackets holding them down, the entire damper rail will come out letting you access the broken screw more easily.

The purpose of that centre pin is to prevent the longer '88 damper rail warping upward when the sustain pedal is pushed. It's adjustment is necessary to keep the rail level and provide an even sustain. From my own experience, the movement on that screw was pretty loose. So I suspect its a threaded screw into a nut embedded in the wood.

So my first approach would be to try and use a small dowel or qtip stick etc with a tiny dab of super glue and see if you can bond to the broken screw and unscrew it. You may be able to do this with the original screw itself.

Failing that, its going to be a drill job or more involved disassembly of the hammer rail assuming the nut section can be accessed from below.

Just came across this video about the Dyno story and appears to be part 1 of a series..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VozbhqIjr8

Hi,
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Just PM myself if you are having any difficulty with this.

[new]

Folks,
   I hope all is well.

Just a heads up that I changed the registration process yesterday to try and make it easier for new members to get onboard. Hopefully these new changes will avoid the confusion we see on occasion.

Many of you will be shown the registration agreement text when you next login. This is just the way the system works. It shows it to all existing users on the next login. Be advised you do not need to take any actions. The email steps and verification questions apply only to new users setting up accounts for the first time.

Just watched the season 3 finale of The Orville this evening and there at the end was a 25th century Silvertop as part of the wedding band. It's a new generations Columbo moment. Also nice to see Peter Erskine of Weather Report fame on drums here.

You cannot view this attachment.

"DiLeone-My-Piano" comes to mind

I found this on YT Music..
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mb_zptkjSAXDeseECusiHQ8GYA0i-03nQ

an Album called "Strazzatonic" and it looks it's a 2016 compilation issue combining three albums.. Taurus, Frames and After the Rain

Likely to be a CD or download purchase option via Amazon or elsewhere also if you don't have a streaming account. That YouTube music link should let you play it for free albeit with adverts thrown in. Will give an idea on the tracks it has etc.

Dr. Mix has uploaded a video of his visit to the factory shop in Leeds. It gives a great overview of some of the hardware improvements and electronics.

https://youtu.be/42e5HuHLrsQ

Cool, thanks for that.

I think someone needs to design a modular synth in the form of a Rhodes name rail.

Wunderbar!

Jenzz, what are the all the mods he has on that Rhodes?

 Beautiful. Thanks for sharing those clips.

Well that just made my day merci

It's real for sure. I had to vet the whole thing before I allowed them post.

You can see the piano in action here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh9qXy8mRoQ

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We'll need to see a detailed picture of the wiring behind the piano rail to tell exactly what each socket is doing.

For the RCA cable, it's best to get a 1/4" (3.5mm) Jack to RCA male adaptor so you can run a normal amp cable to the harp and adapt it there to the RCA female. That will isolate the harp from the custom wiring entirely and likely get you up and running a lot faster.

I think this thread as Tim suggested as gone off the rails enough.

Locked.

Folks,
  a belated happy holiday and new year

I've put up a new logo. Many thanks to new forum member Damian (d-rock) for volunteering his graphics design expertise and giving us a new logo for the forum banner.

And now for something different.. an interesting clip I saw today from Japan where a piano tech used springs to improve the repeat action on upright pianos.

I don't think the idea of springs is totally new. Some comments on the Youtube clip mention that several makes through the years had utilised something similar. There's also one part of the video where they used a Hitachi jig-saw to drive the repeat test on the keys .

enjoy..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivuczNJPubo

That worked. Here's another..



I'll leave the topic live for a few days in case others want to test it.

Go to http://hostthenpost.org , upload an image and copy the direct URL it provides you. Paste into your post and surround with the img tags (or select the pasted link and click the image button on the formatting toolbar).

Best have images scaled/cropped to 800x600 or smaller resolution so that they fit better to the posts.

And for safety, try to secure a copy of the image elsewhere in case that service ever goes all ransom mode like photobucket.

Confirmed.. Google Photos no longer working for embedded photo URLs

When you grab a raw image URL from Google Photos, you get this huge and very random URL. These were what's called unguessable URLs and they bear no reference to the user, album or given photo name etc. So they are quite secure.

Back in the Picasa days and definitely also in the earlier times for Google Photos, that embeddable URL would work. Now if the retriever is not signed into a google account, he gets a broken link. If signed into another account he gets a no entry sign which is what David and rhodesjuzz saw.

The only way to share a link is via a shared image link, but thats no usable for embedded purposes.

Irony indeed. Ive managed to recreate it also. I suspect it only works for you if you're signed into a google account. I can recreate the broken link in an incognito browser window.

Will investigate that more

Cormac
Instead of a photo only a no-enter-sign (if that's the right english word) shows up.

Same for me.

Oh, the irony.

[Removed bit about using Google Photos.. that no longer works for embedded image sharing]

Ben I'll take a nose around some of your posts and examine some links etc and get back to you. If its possible the bucket links have some remnant of the original filename, then I think we can find a way to batch update the URLs in your archive of posts.

I did similar surgery way back after migrating the forum and its posts from James Garfields site where some posts had links to other posts and luckily I was able to do a like for like swap ensuring these got converted despite the forum software and URL being changed. Article ID numbers were preserved after the migration so it threw me a bone to work with.

There is also an attachment option here on the forum but I wouldn't recommend it especially to people who know what they are doing with the content authoring etc. The free flow of text and images is what people want when writing something authoritatively. 

Poll added to topic folks

In case its not obvious when you get under the hood, make sure you take photos and upload here or share a link etc. It will help for others to take a look.

If no pin exists, I'm suspecting the rail could have been bent by the force of the pedal rod.

It does indeed seem like the centre pin is broken or has slipped. But not all pianos had these pins fitted.

You will need to get the lid off and examine the movement of the damper rail over the as you press the pedal to confirm if the rail is acting in a warped manner, with the centre section not pressing down correctly on the dampers.

Then unscrew and raise the harp to examine it more closely and also confirm if the piano has a damper rail pin and if its slipped, loose or broken.

[ADMIN MOD]

Moved post from Mike Borish to here.. (forum rules, keep sales pitches to for-sale section)
http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=9280.0

Hi folks,

   The webhost had an emergency service window take place between what they say was 2-3 EDT (6AM-7AM GMT) on Saturday. So somewhere in that time period they managed to goof and presumably lose posts by restoring a DB snapshot. So apologies to all concerned.. Normally if they give better notice, I can schedule the forum to go into maintenance mode prior to their activities. This case however was an unexpected occurrence.

seems all the posts that were made today have been erased somehow.

My post disappeared.

Just to get a 2nd opinion on that output volume, I'd set the amp volume lower and use a screwdriver tip to tap the metal core of the pickups and try to gauge that volume difference between the pops. That should give a more accurate indicator and avoid any voicing or hammer tip variations that could be in play.

Unless one of the techs comment or pm you on this, I'd start to reach out to some of the Rhodes shops to see if they do these retrofits and if they would do one on a real piano. Given its a key bed mod, I suspect it's done the same way.

Either that or start rebooking at different stage pianos in case you can find a tolerable action.

The cheapest option is going to be a weighted digital piano or one of the entry level stage pianos from Korg, Yamaha etc. But they will have the same feel typical of digital pianos.

If you're really looking for a more traditional feel, then you would need to go the route of acquiring a normal upright piano, possibly with a practice pedal to muffle the main sound and go the route of having a MIDI retrofit. Thats going to be well clear of the $1000 limit if you consider the used price for a good condition upright and the retrofit.

Some of the shops that service Rhodes and the like actually fit the same kind of mod to Rhodes to make them MIDI-capable. The principle is based on a sensor strip positioned under the key bed that detects the motion and translates that into MIDI signals. There are probably other piano techs out there that do the same.

From what I've read, it used to be a royal PITA to fit and tune these systems. But the technology may have improved. Hopefully some of the techs experienced with this kind of mod can chime in here.

From the 90's specifically, I'd add two from Jamiroquai:

Space Cowboy (1994) .. opens with a Rhodes and the signature tremolo
Cosmic Girl (1996).. opens with a Rhodes with Phaser effect

[44]

See here for details on how the dating works..

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=4931.msg24268#msg24268

For this piano, given its a later model, 4404 .. week 44, 1980, 4th working day of week.

Move the topic into the Other Keyboards & Software Synths section

It looks like week 35/38 of 1972 based on the harp timestamps.

Its a Fender-Rhodes suitcase 73 with full skirted key caps which also fits that timeframe in both use of "Fender" and the full skirt keycaps.

that's definitely a mod there.

the capacitor used to perform the tone control is usually soldered onto the "bass boost" pot. Now it could in this case straddle the two and still be wired correctly. But I've never seen a cap that physically large used.

This thread here has a diagram and photo of the setup on a Mark V but it would be the later revised passive setup Rhodes used which gave better control and less signal loss as I understand it.
http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=4650.0

Did you try taking the audio feed direct from the harp, bypassing the Bass/volume pots?

A lot of people prefer the direct sound as it tends to be cleaner. Trying that may also identify the pots/capacitor as the source of the muffled sound.

Certainly from listening to it, it's definitely sounding muffled.

Some great closeups on the action and reeds here..

http://czechkeys.blog.cz/0709/klaviphon

From recollection, I don't recall having a left or right only sound when my Pulsar was in the "off" position.

but I also had mine powered via an external PSU. So I have no idea if it was still drawing power to provide output on both channels. Because if it was, then that's not good news if you are planning to drive it via battery.

I bought an EHX Stereo Pulsar before and returned it because I found the tremolo speed control too sensitive. The rate would go from slow to fast on the slightest adjustment.

I ended up getting a used MXR M159 which was perfect for the job. But that product seems discontinued for quite some time.
You have a usable rate control, wave shape pot.. both extremes are cats-eye and square. You've also got a depth control.
It has two stomp switches, one is on/off and the other toggles between panning tremolo and just a mono tremolo.

When its in the off position, there is a pass-thru signal coming out via both L/R outputs. But I would expect this with all stereo Fx boxes.

If the harp supports are wood-blocks, then you may find a date stamp either under theses blocks or on the side of the hammer rail.

You'd need to first remove the harp, unscrew the keybed from the case and lift it out. Then underneath the keybed, unscrew the wood blocks so that they can be removed.

My 1975 Mk1 was void of any markings on the harp and after getting advice on removing the blocks,  I eventually found a date on the right side of the hammer rail.

For immediate results, the only way you're going to get a passive signal out is to disconnect the harp RCA and run a cable from there direct to an external amp, pedalboard etc.

I was trying to see if the left-most Jack was possibly a passive out from the harp but it really seems to be parallel wired to the other jack.

Combining resistances..
http://www.eecs.tufts.edu/~dsculley/tutorial/voltageDividers/voltdiv2.html

for series, its simple adding up the total.

For parallel, its a bit nastier
1/R total = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... + 1/Rn

For a simplification of this formula for combining just two resistors is..
R = (R1 x R2) / (R1 + R2)
Of in your case.. (32 x 32) / (32 + 32) = 16

Brilliant article guys 

Answers a lot of questions I'm often asked.

Folks,
  just testing an issue we're having with another user. Just ignore

Here's my '75 case. Those two strips at the back are what the lid rests on. There should be something similar in your case and if not, it should be straight forward to retrofit supports.

Given that the pedestals shown are flat and don't seem to have felts, I suspect they are from the short-lived period where felts were stuck to the all-plastic hammers instead.

Can you post photos of the hammers and also of the date/serial details on the top-right of the harp?