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It was weird: tone bar 65 was noticeably shorter than either 64 or 66.  I was having a hard time getting it in tune -- even with the spring all the way out I just couldn't get it flat enough.  I suspected the shorter tone bar might be culprit (I know that doesn't make a difference on the lower keys, but those upper bars are more finicky).  So I wanted to find out if it was the right length. 

I ended up ordering a new one from VV -- it was longer than my old one, but still shorter than its neighbors. A mystery!  The others are all nicely descending in length.

(if you're curious how I got it in tune, I ended up swapping the tine from a neighbor that was longer than the one I had and retuning both).

 

Near as I can tell the manual has the tine lengths (though these are in the form of an image/templates, not actual measurements), but I don't see the tonebar lengths.

Hi Everyone-

Does anyone of a table with the standard length of the tone bars in a Fender Rhodes?   

I've seen a lot of discussion throughout the site about length, but no one seems to have a table.   I've got a few tonebars in my older piano whose lengths do not match the numbers (they are clearly shorter then their neighbors) and I'd like to figure out if that's intended.

I suspect some of the major refurbishers like Vintage Vibe might have one (hint hint).

Thanks,
theBob

Nevermind!
I dug deeper and pulled it out about four times to try different springs, tine-springs, etc.
 
Even though the bolt holding the tine onto the tone bar was tight (I couldn't twist the tone bar manually) I eventually gave up and tried that. When I stuck it in a vice I was able to get another 1/4 turn into it and it sustains fine.

I had taken the tines off the tone bars to clean them and later align them -- must not have tightened this one all the way.  Lesson learned.
 

Hi Everyone-

I'm new to this board, but I've enjoyed reading the prior posts and learned a lot.  I apologize for a newbish question (and I'm about to post a second to start a second thread).

I'm a long time Rhodes player, but it was finally time to recondition my piano.  I live in Iowa, and there doesn't appear to be any nearby shops that know anything about the Rhodes, so I've been slowly learning to do the work myself.

It's a Mark 1 Stage Piano.  It needed a lot of love, but it's slowly coming into shape.
My immediate issue is that I've got one key on the upper register (#56 to be precise) that just doesn't ring.  The forum wouldn't let me post a wav file, but you can see the difference quite clearly in the attached image which shows the waveform/spectrogram. The first note is the immediately adjacent #55, and the second is #56.

I've tweaked this to no end in the following ways:
- It has new screws, grommets and washers (as does all the other keys)
- The tonebar is original but I've polished it up (along with all the other keys)
- I've spent a long time positioning the tine and pickup.
- I've got the upper tone bar clips installed on all of them and I've played with positioning.
- I've tapped that pickup with a screwdriver and the result is just as loud as the neighbors, so I assume the pickup is OK.

Judging by the waveforms, I don't think its the hammer/action -- notice that it starts at the same amplitude as the other, it just decays much more rapidly.

So I'm guessing I need to replace either the tine or the tone bar. Does anyone have any intuitions about what it might be?  Or is there an easy way to tell?  Or is there some other factor I'm not thinking of?  Two weeks ago, I didn't realize the importance of straight screws and new springs, so I'd be willing to bet I'm missing something. 

I thought I would post before I ordered something, waited another week and then discovered I needed the other thing.

Thanks in advance,

theBob




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