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Ciao, about the point 6 i suggest you to build just one key before start to build the entire piano.
Just a stand alone key w pickup tine and everything and with his you can experiment for real-
Happy that you do this creative project good luck have fun!
Stefano - Rome

I found this i want know what you think if this leslie can match my piano and suggestions and comments.
I found various fender vibratone or Leslie 16 cabinet, this strangely seems to be a tube amp...can i connect it directly to the piano?

https://www.mercatinomusicale.com/mm/a_leslie-16-fender-vibratone-amplificatore-valvolare-per-chitarra-e-organo_id7132488.html

Thanks
Stefano

I need to do the same for my 1977 mark 1.
Did you solved? Was difficult? Is there a big difference in key action?
Im not a piano player i have the instrument at home to play with people and up to now nobody told me that the actual action is really bad so im really in doubt to do or not..,
Thanks for your feedback
Stefano - Rome Italy

I have a 1977 stage and i have the same situation on some keys, wood is bent upwards and also right or left on some keys, few millimeters at the end.
I tried to bent the worst with hot steam and was it too risky i had fear to break the wood so i managed just adding removing shims now keys are levelled in a decent way.
But i think that you can reshape with hot temperature the keys as for any other wood, in lutherie is widely used so if you try let me know.
Maybe with an iron...

I also have a stage '77 and i can say that yours is much better than mine, no rust, great shape of the tines and miracle mod installed.
About action and mechanic and keys i suggest you to start working simply levelling the keys with the paper shims to have a compromise and later you can do more serious work like changing the backrail felt, key bushing for sloppy keys etc , when your knowledge and your hands are in the piano.
About the sound in my '77 i tried to obtain the bark sound moving the harp and adjusting the pickups near to the tines and i can tell you that the result is not like a earlier fender rhodes or mk5 or vintage vibe, my experience is that this piano era do his best in mellow bell sound and the setup for mellow sound is different, any piano is different better catch the good that is inside instead of have a compromise searching a sound that the piano cannot fully produce, this is my experience.
PS do everything with a good preamp connected directly to good headphones.
good luck in your rhodes voyage

I'm not an expert nobody answer you so i try to say something. I have a 1977 stage and i obtained a bell sound moving the tines in front of pickups searching for the right spot. Lot of time for every note with headphones connected directly to an hi-z preamp (shertler preA-III acoustic preamp).
My problem is the opposite i cannot obtain the "bark" sound...its very easy for me to adjust the tines for the bell/chime but difficult to have bell w soft touch and bark with energy in the mid hi register, i need to compromise.
Preamp for sure play a vital role on this.
I dont think that replacing parts will change a lot, sure can change but the setup itself can vary the sound lot more than a new grommet or a new tip, obviously few people here can admit this because they want sell parts or because they are super professional that dont want compromise.
My point of view is that any instrument is different and for me its better to understand how to setup the specific instrument instead of try to obtain a certain kind of sound also because i dont have lot of money.
About chime and bell i suppose its the same

Hi, im using a rhodes stage through a preamp into a hi-fi home stereo and im evaluating an offer for a DOD phasor 490 vintage phase shifter to have more flavour and movement to the sound.
Price is 100 euro.
What do you think?

You shoud try to bend the damper leverage or to assest the felt right/left a little or move left/right the position of the tine in relation w the tonebar (few millimeters) or change the damper felt or glue a softer felt or leave this sound as part of an electromechanic beauty (my personal choice on my piano, full of noises and "non perfect non uniform) parasite sound.
Decades of perfect pure digital sounds dictatorship need a raw revenge.

Great catch ! wow Tommy Flanagan
The piano is sounding (on the left hand) like a hammond organ.
Beautiful music magic musicians thanks a lot

Thanks! I know well this album.
I seen a post on Frank Strazzieri and there is Ray Charles on the web.
I was thinking at a "rhodes only" jazz standard only album, maybe contemporary i'm just curious.
thanks and enjoy music
 

I have a MK1 stage 1977 (white felt under the hammers) and i worked a lot to obtain the mellow sound.
Up to now i reached a beautiful complex kind of different sound on bass range (bark if strong mellow if soft), mellow bell like in medium and "neutral" on high notes.
To obtain this i experienced
1 - Better use headphones directly connected to an acoustic class A preamp if you have. Headphones are really important because you need to understand the real acoustic sound of each tine without the color of the cabinet/speaker/amp/tone/eq/room.
- work on each a single tine until you are satisfied, move the tine up or down from the pickup with the screwdriver if there is no chance to obtain the sound you like move the pickup nearest possible and try again with the pickup if also this fail you better disassemble the tine from the resonance bar clean everithing revitalize the grommet (with your fingers) and try again searching for the sound if not working disassemble again and install the tine pointing on right or left, not aligned, try this and make the possible. I have several tines (about sex to ten) that are not perfectly aligned with the resonance bar and the hammer is working well and the sound is beautiful and the sustain also.
- If there is no chance you can try to sobstitute a tine with a nearest one.
- If there is no chance again build yourself a new tuning spring with a different size wire, this cause the mass of the spring to stay in a different position and to have a different vibration diagram from the same tine.
Do per all the keys evaluating also the sustain of the upper notes adding mass or removing mass to the bars if needed.
- now adjust the volume without the headphones moving the pickup, this cause some note to sound different so you need to re start again for the notes involved.

Some days of joyful hand adjustment and you will finally have the best sound that you can obtain without spending lot of money to buy things. You need also to re-tune the instrument because the magnetic field of the near pickup can affect the vibration period (frequency) of the tines.

People here are involved in business so they tend to make you spend money to buy everything (grommets, screw, spacers, hammer tips and so on), i changed one note for reference and test (the central C) with new grommets screw and a new single hammer tip and i tell you, yes is more stable yes there is no changing in sound yes the sound is nice yes everything but is ok also without spend a cent.

Any instrument have his voice this is my opinion, for me the goal is to try to obtain the best from my ancient instrument without renew everythig.

Another thing that i learned is that the agressive bark sound (apart electronics) is coming from the "fender" rhodes, from the felt hammer tip instruments.

Another last, old hammer tips (if not over used and grooved) are less soft and more "bell like" sounding. Bell sound is related to some overtones from all overtones that you can "select" moving the pickup-tine relation, more overtones qty more kind of sound customization you have. Chick Corea was playng a piano without hammer tips to have the plastic hammering the tine without the rubber tip.

Disclaimer: these are only modest non professional personal experiences maybe all is wrong sorry for professional experienced that know everything people.

Hi
does somebody know any recording or video live of jazz music mostly standards with fender rhodes piano?

I used viinegar and citric acid and worked well to me.
Rust is gone.
As i know the tines are made from steel so no problem, about the other part, where the tines are connected, its plated (chrome?) and there you cannot solve with acid (vinnegar or others).

Hi i have a MK1 1977 and is the same i suppose the purpose of that felt is to avoid breaking of mechanical parts, hammers, in case of very very strong hit, in that very rare moments the felt is operating.
But im not sure.

Hi,
im not a piano player, this question is coming from a frend that play very well my rhodes at my home, jazz standards.
The question-idea is to bend down the damper felt on the low octave only allowing the piano pedal to work at two stages
- if pressed the sustain pedal full all the tines will be free, as in any pianos
- if pressed at half only the first octave (the bass notes) will be free.

It is good?
It is easy to do?
Have some disadvantages or risk?

This to emulate a similarity to the "sostenuto" pedal funcion of the grand piano, altaugh not the same the result woild be some roots of the chords should be sustained...

I see that this situation appear anyway but in non organized way because the pedal is not just "on-off" but has some degree of mechanical range action, if the pedal is pressed at first stage there is some note that is in contact with the felt and some not, the idea is to take advantage of this.

Disclaimer: i'm a double bass player i'm not a piano expert so please be patient with me, maybe i wrote a stupid thing or a obvious thing.

Thanks for your patience...

Hi everyone,
i'm evaluating the various legs for Rhodes Stage
i have difficulties to understand the differences between the "Vintage Vibe" and the "Vintage Gear" legs...
Thanks

Ciao,
thank you to make me smiling, you have any kind of sound effect in your piano maybe you can evaluate the possibility to use it as a effect generator for psychedelic music...
Two modest suggestion from me (i'm a newbie with rhodes).
1- download the original pdf "Rhodes service manual" and read all carefully.
2 - experiment with a single key all kind of mechanical adjustment in the relation between the tine and the pickup and the resonator bar and the springs and grommets and take a slow motion video with your mobile while the key is in action in various mode (fast, slow, repeated, soft, hard), thanks to the video you will understand a lot of things that are too fast to be seen with your eyes (multiple strokes, no action, bouncing).
I was in the same situation as you some month ago with a 1977 stage MK1 and slowly day by day i solved and now some professional musician told me that my piano is great in both mechanical (keys, action, felt, hammers) and audio domains (arp, tines, setup, potentiometer).

PS: about the missing bass boost check the wiring of the capacitor connected with the potentiometer if a wire is disconnected and evaluate to change both botentiometers if they make audio noise while you move, to do this you need a friend with a basic electronic know how.
PPS: be careful before install the miracle mod , bouncing keys will be not be eliminated by this, to eliminate the bouncing on release you need a backcheck kit that you suggest to do not install now, maybe you can thik to it in the future. In my 1977 piano i have the white felt on the hammer (as you i suppose) and i have made no modification and everybody that play the piano told me that the action is great as other rhodes piano.
I wrote a book too
Ciao

How ended?
Did you installed the thick felt?

Ciao

Thanks for your answer.
I will do the proper job in the future...

Hi,
i have since few weeks a Rhodes MK1 '77 and i'm doing some maintenance in simply way, just experimenting and having fun.
I'm doing some improvemet on key bushing on some bad key and now i see that the backrail felt is hard, maybe due to time.
What you think if i glue another thin felt over the old felt without removing it?
This because i shloud so without removing the action rail just removing the name rail and the keys...
Its really a blasphemy or somebody have tried to glue a felt over nother?
The new felt that i have is thin,  1mm thick so i suppose that doing this i will adjust also the key dip that now is 10-11mm.
Thanks ciao from Italy