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You need to be logged in to view the photos using those links. Photobucket should give you alternate http: links for public use that would work in their place.

This woman has been stalking me from my Yahoo! mailbox for practically a year now, and this video shows a vague map of her location...can anyone identify her whereabouts so I can call the police?

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/img/users/james/st.html

We figured out that the problem is that the tips were installed...backwards!!! For everybody's reference, the Service Manual has a few diagrams that show the hammer configuration:

Plastic Hammer Action (#14 & #15)


Escapement Distances



Chapter 4 is a good reference in general for dealing with changes in tone after you've installed the new tips. Also keep in mind that at the points where the tips change in hardness (i.e. the color sticker on the bag in the kit), there will be a minor increase in bell tone. You can manipulate this by changing the breakpoint positions between hardnesses, but don't mess around too much or you'll start breaking tines!

The overhaul I've been working on for 2-1/2 years has made me wonder about this over and over again. The extended timeframe is really just a lack of total commitment to the project on my part (i.e. other parts of my like take precedence for months) and the learning curve involved when you setup a piano yourself with no prior experience (in this case installing a completely new and unadjusted set of dampers). I keep wishing I had my very first Suitcase back so there was only that one dead F and the bad preamp to deal with again. But I'm not giving up!

There's a 1980 Mark II Suitcase at Union Grove in Santa Cruz right now that has almost half of the white pickups replaced with reds, and there's no difference in sound. The white core wrapper was probably due to a switch in manufacturers at the time, not the pickup coil winding itself.

A little update...apparently the seller kept me in mind and saved one as a donation to the site! I'll post the details here as soon as it arrives....

The factoids for you....

* I determined that "console" refers to a standard acoustic piano (88 keys, yes, but why 61 keys I have no idea). They're providing its range as a point of comparison for the various models. The "celeste" in the top octave refers to an actual celeste, not the Fender Rhodes Celeste. But then of course, when you look more closely, the ranges for the Celeste and Piano 61 are not correct...the Piano 61 only has 57 keys!

* The Piano 61 in "Ray" was a fake indeed, based on the Pre-CBS catalog photo shown on this site. Freddan says that one of the Moog Cookbook guys was responsible for building the mockup.

* The auction ended at $97 when you include shipping. For a 4-page brochure. I think I paid that much combined for my '69 and '70 Fender/CBS catalogs, although those weren't exactly "mint"...the '69 is missing its cover and everything....

Facebook keeps implying that this woman is looking for me...is she looking for any of you too, or is it just me???

It arrived today, and I heard the Korg M1's choir of angels sounding as I opened it. The guy wasn't kidding about it being near mint: the spine wasn't broken (I took care of that when I scanned it) and there were only a few finger-dents in what otherwise felt like new paper. So here are some Web-rez scans for everybody...Ben, I've got the 2400 dpi ones ready for you too!

I just blew $97 on the 1965 catalog insert, so somebody else will have to take care of this one...apparently the winner will get a 3-pack, so keep me in mind!

I think the proper term is "apeshit"....  :shock:

After seeing the Five Peace Band last night, I think Yamaha needs a new ad slogan:

Even Chick Corea can't make the Motif sound like a real Rhodes.

He was able to get the 80's Elektric Band sounds out of it perfectly, but the Rhodes tone was just plain wrong, empty, devoid of emotion. I found myself waiting for him to head back over to the acoustic piano. That's where he's doing his best playing on this tour!

Maybe I should offer to trade it back to Steve Hayes for the new-in-box Mark V. That way no real money would need to be involved....  :shock:

[one note]

Ironically I believe it. $400 for a Rhodes that plays one note. I understand your personal interest, but why so many other people would fight for it like that is beyond me....

BTW, I've still never seen the 12-key Mark II demo that I got from John at Major Key in the wild. They really were manufactured en masse for the sales force, but this one was rotting in a closet in the factory, so you have to wonder if maybe they were all...returned??? There's no way I'd sell it, especially after Speakeasy rebuilt it, but how much somebody would pay for a Rhodes that played 12 notes!!!!!!!  :shock:

[$92.13]

Pardon my French, but JESUS H. CHRIST:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380110308507

For the record, my max bid was $92.13...that's the entire balance of the Super Site fund going into this one item. I hope everybody enjoys it!!! I think I have a small skull fracture from sitting here watching the last 2 min of the auction waiting for that asshole to come back and ruin it all!!!!!!!   :evil:  :shock:      

P.S. And Ben, yes, I will be sending a whole CD of scans, plus much more! I must share this victory with everyone!!!  :lol:    :shock:    :lol:  

[MUCH]

I believe there is some joking and sarcasm that is not being interpreted correctly here...let's not turn this into a flame war....

This debate about the hammers seems to have been going on for years now. The only thing anyone can absolutely say for sure is that the 60's pianos with the teardrop piano hammers and Ray-Mac tines sound MUCH different than any of the others.  I can say that I worked on a 1976 Mark I with the white plastic hammers 2 weeks ago, and the only real difference between that and my 1975 Mark I with the wood/plastic hammers that I noticed was the action.  The change in 1976 made it light and fast, but the sound did not change!  There are so many other factors such as the tines used during the era (mid-70's design vs. late-70's design being a big transition), the age of the tines (i.e. how worn out they are), the overall tone adjustments and escapement, the amp and/or preamp you are using, etc. etc. etc.  And then there are the Dyno pianos, which are a breed all their own....

Anyway, that's my 5 cents on the matter.  Frederik has had similar experience being able to A/B pianos side-by-side, coming to similar conclusions.  We could use more insights from people who have access to multiple pianos, in order to compare theory to reality!

God help us all. When I looked more closely, it seemed strange that your feedback rating was only 12.... :wink:

[me]

Sorry, but you're already bidding against me...I figured it had to be you!!!! :twisted: I'll send a CD with hi-res scans of the entire insert assuming I wind up with it. BTW, I figured out that your bids against me increased the price by 1000%....

OK, here you go...retail prices for 1978:

Cool, I hope the fix for the gap works. If not, let me know what your solution is!

I have to say that the '76 Mark I that I'm working on right now has the best action of any Rhodes I've ever played, BUT...the white felts look brand new! I know the owner has never had it serviced by anybody besides me, and I don't intend to replace the felts on him. So what does he do when the cam felts wear out? Put them on the pedestal like the '78?

They're not manufacturing the Quadrapuss anymore, so that narrows your choices down a little. So far my tests with the Stage Vibe have been great, despite the fact that my piano was in half-destroyed condition on the inside at the time! The vibrato effect is beautiful, and it does act as a good preamp. My only wishes are cosmetic ones, but I took care of some of those myself:



I think the small stock Fender amp knobs look nicer than the blue-capped ones that they use, and they fit pretty well on the pots. Plus they are designed with a grip for your thumb + forefinger, which makes tweaking easy. I'm going to write a formal review when I've got the piano put back together, but as you can see by my blog, it will probably be 2010 by the time that happens....

Herbie Hancock/Headhunters - Thrust
Chick Corea/Return To Forever - Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy

Actually it was bassist/Jaco disciple Marcus Goldberg on WRTI Jazz 90 FM in Philadelphia who introduced me to everything on his "Friday Night Fusion" show. These 2 albums are the first that I got on tape and listened to over and over and over and over....

I just got the 1977 price list off of Ebay this morning. I'll post the figures when it arrives....

I've been looking at videos and pics of the tour so far, and Chick is using the Motif for all of the Rhodes-type sounds when he's looking for them. Since he's been overseas, I'm still wondering if the Mark V will be along for the ride when he gets to the US. Does anybody know what the plan is? I'm having trouble waiting for March 23rd....

BTW, it's obvious that Chick's Facebook account is being run by somebody else here in the US considering how many "friends" he adds throughout the day. There are a lot of drummers on my list who I've added via musician friends of mine who actually know them (Steve Gadd, Jerry Marotta). You get the sense that they're using it like normal people, even if their friend-base is in the thousands. So what's the deal, Chick? You never reply to my messages...you're never online so I can chat and catch up...what happened to us? We were so close, and now we're so far! All of this touring has torn us apart, and now you've got somebody pretending to be you? :cry:

[need]

No, he's talking about the fold-out hinges (I think!) and the mounting screws/bolts that attach the harp frame to the harp support blocks.  The side hinges are a matter of convenience (or inconvenience depending on who you talk to), and they don't have anything to do with securing the harp.  Don't worry about that one for now.  My advice is to find screws with a larger thread to fill the 4 holes, because you need the harp to be securely bolted down in order for the hammer alignment to be consistent.  I had the same problem with mine, and the bigger wood screws did the job.

I guess you guys didn't see the '93 "Alive In America" reunion tour...God was that AWFUL. It was nice to hear the classics done live, but they didn't have a sense of being a band, which you really need in order to pull something like that off.  The show I saw was even the last one of the tour, so you'd think they would have fully connected by then...right?  The worst part, though, was that Walter was promoting his own solo album at the same time Don had released Kamakiriad.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but half the crowd groaned, booed and walked out to the concessions each time he started playing!!!!

Anyway, the '96 tour kicked ass by comparison, and I wore out my Bad Sneakers t-shirt after about 3 years.  It was nice to have Don finally explain the lyrics of Hey 19 to me and the rest of the audience in the middle of the song, since it never occurred to me that "Colombian" referred to "reefer" (I could never even make out what the hell the word was in the first place).  And by the Y2K tour they really had it together, even though the t-shirts weren't as good.  I can sum it all up in 3 words: WEST OF HOLLYWOOD....

I'm drawing a blank as to what it was now, but I saw something on video recently where the guy was faking it on a Mark I along with an overdubbed "live" acoustic piano. It must've been one of those kids' shows that I'm constantly subjected to. Or more likely, an old kids' show that we dug up on YouTube....

The seller is located in Ventura, so maybe it's a retired local banker. Or bank robber. BTW, I liked that they had listed this one with the Ebay "gift idea" icon....

But he's also talking about the extra jacks that are added to the namerail:

http://s363.photobucket.com/albums/oo80/roger-bcn/?action=view&current=DSC00175.jpg

That's obviously a custom job! It looks as if someone may have added an input for a 9V power supply so that you can use the Suitcase Vibrato & EQ without the 5-pin cable. It may have been a Stage Piano upgraded with the Janus I System at one time, but without the speakers the electronics don't work.  You would need the extra power supply to get it to function.

Right, and even then (speaking as the software engineer for the site) an automated system would be obnoxious between having to setup users, passwords, serial transfers (like when people sell registered software licenses), etc.  With my news item on the front page I've had one (1) submission so far, which makes things very simple, but also isn't along the lines of the "registry" we're talking about.

I like Ben's idea of the Rare Model Registry, which can be an expansion of the Gallery section (there's already a Pub Model and Kenneth Manning's Executone in there).  On my end it means a few database changes, and for everybody else it means sending in pics and raves about how much they love their babies and the story behind how they found them.  Let me know what you think and how many people out there are interested in contributing.

[screw-in knob]

P.S. But for that matter, how many Stage Pianos do you find with the cross braces? or better yet, the screw-in knob that goes with them???  I guess it would be a lot more likely for that little guide disc to pop out without anybody noticing....

The bigger question would be whether this was an aftermarket design to address the slipping.  I've never owned or seen a Stage Piano with one either.

Speakeasy did a mod of the Mark II mold so that the front lip actually does reach the top of the Mark I namerail, but it doesn't go any farther than that.  Their cover also has a support screwed onto the rear that keeps the cover from sliding back and forth, since the Mark II's is at least 1/2" less deep compared to the Mark I round top.  I've been using it without any problems, but I wouldn't trust it to hold hundreds of pounds of gear, even though they claim it is constructed with stronger plastic.  There's still no support in the middle.

BTW, the '79 Rhodes ad for the Mark II flat top has a Clav in the pile but not a Wurli.  And the Clav is covered up by the other keyboards so you couldn't play it anyway!  But I'm willing to bet that if you were able to put a heavy keyboard on top with the weight distributed evenly across the entire harp cover, it would hold up.  Maybe somebody with a Mark II and a Wurli 200 would like to experiment?

Hey Rob, can you send me pics of that flat top harp cover when it's out of the piano?  I've been trying to track some down for the site, but you don't see these transitional deals show up that often!

We don't have much data on the serial numbers, but you can still determine the production year by looking inside the piano. There are two 4-digit date codes, one on the pickup rail and one on the tonebar rail. The code on the pickup rail is located on the right-hand side, beneath the part number. The first two digits indicate the week of the year, and the last two indicate the year (e.g. 0978 = 09th week of 1978, sometime in early March). This is the week the pickup rail was completed, which was normally 1 to 4 months prior to the day the piano was finished. This code is the best indicator of the piano's age.



In cases where the pickup rail code is unreadable, you can also look for the finish date code on the lower right-hand side of the tonebar rail. From 1965 to 1973, this also followed the week/year convention mentioned above. Sometime in 1974, the code was switched to week/year/day, where 1581 is interpreted as 15th week, 1978, 1st day of the work week (Monday). When 1980 arrived, the year digit started over at 0, so 1501 would be 15th week, 1980, 1st day of the work week.



As a point of reference, here's an overview of the different models and their production years:

* "Sparkle Top" Fender Rhodes (1965-1969)
* Fender Rhodes Mark I (1969-1975)
* Rhodes Mark I (1975-1979)
* Rhodes Mark II with wood keys (1979-1980)
* Rhodes Mark III EK-10 & Rhodes 54 (1980)
* Rhodes Mark II with plastic keys (1981-1983)
* Rhodes Mark V (1984)

[how am I supposed to connect this thing to a regular amp???]

It is very common for pianos that were updated with the Super Satellite speaker package to be sold without them these days, or for the Suitcase Piano top to be missing its bottom and placed on a heavy-duty keyboard stand instead.  Since both of these pianos used a 5-pin DIN or XLR-style cable to connect with the original amplifier, the question almost always arises: how am I supposed to connect this thing to a regular amp???

The good news is that the Super Satellite system included a pair of 1/4" outputs as well:



As did the later Janus I system:



The original design was for Accessory 1 & 2 to be an effects loop, with #1 being "send" and #2 being "return".  Since #1 (the top jack) is "send", it is wired straight to the pickups and has an output level similar to an electric guitar with zero amplification.  Accessory #1 is functionally the same as the 1/4" out on any guitar or bass.

So in order to get the correct signal from the piano, you will want to use one of these:

a) guitar or bass amp
b) tube preamp
c) mic input on a mixer
d) mic input on a keyboard amp

In the case that you have a Suitcase Piano top without the Accessory jacks, you will need to remove the plastic top and use the output from the RCA jack at the left end of the pickup chain.  The cable you find inside can be unplugged easily without damaging anything, then you can connect an RCA male-to-whatever cable of your own in order to get output to an amp or mixer.  Again, it's the same as a passive guitar output.  You'll need some sort of preamp along the way to boost the signal no matter what.

I'd personally keep acetone the hell away from my Rhodes since it has a reputation for melting the plastic components.  Slight oxidation is typically found on the tines in a piano depending on the conditions in which it was stored/gigged and doesn't necessarily affect the tone, so you may not need to worry about it.  Are you able to post pics of the tines that have the worst corrosion so we can see the extent of the damage?

From Fender/CBS Piano Bulletin No. 5 (circa 1971):

All pianos built prior to Week 51, 1970 are equipped with the old Ray-Mac tines. The job of replacing these with the new sets requires about two hours including tuning.

The "new sets" referred to 73-packs of Torrington tines cut to the correct lengths with springs mounted and "rough tuned", which were available at a dealer cost of $25.55 and a list price of $51.10.  Wowie zowie!

Considering the extremity of the damage, I'd leave the headache to a pro if you can.  It's a minor project, not a quick fix, and the new bridle straps will probably change the action (i.e. you may need to adjust it afterward in order to get it back to "normal", whatever that feels like to you).  But honestly, the strap replacement has been one of the simplest parts of my restoration adventure so far.  It just took time and patience.  BTW, Doug (dnarkosis) sourced the bridle straps cheap at this site:

http://www.vandaking.com/s-6516-bridle-straps.html

All you'd need is one 90-pack and you're ready to go.  Cork size shouldn't matter since you're just cutting that part off anyway.

A little off topic, but that harmonium looks awesome. Do you play a lot of Indian music or do you use it for other stuff?

It's actually my wife's, although she's a cellist and seems to have run out of patience with the keys sticking.  My Rhodes repair experience has been helpful in keeping the thing operational, since when you get a harmonium direct from India it isn't exactly built to Western standards....

Anyway, she got into Indian kirtan chants a few years ago via artists in the US like Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Dave Stringer and originally Wah! (who has become a close friend and guide to her).  She has been practicing singing and leading the chants herself, and recently I started working on solo bass guitar accompaniment.  Once my Rhodes is put together again, that will be the obvious expansion to the duo sound, but the bass + vocal effect is pretty psychedelic by itself, especially in a hall with dozens of singers!

P.S. The hanging hammers pic is an example of putting stress on the combs, as Steve was saying....

[not]

Logo side down (i.e. its back) and key fronts (i.e. handles) facing up is how I store mine, which is how it needs to be positioned for the factory slip cover to fit over it:



It doesn't take up much space this way and doesn't seem to put any stress on the hammers or other action components.  I would not store it on up its end for months, though, because of the way the hammers would all be left hanging to the side:



Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I don't think my decision to put the bare hammer assembly in my closet for months like that was a good one!

Keep in mind that there's the old analog CX3 and the new digital one.  It may be the analog ones that you're seeing at low prices, although I'm sure either will be a better deal costwise compared to the XK3.  But I'm still curious myself about an A/B of the latest Hammond vs. Korg!

If it lives up to the original advertising, the Mark II flat top should support plenty of weight:

My last keyboard instructor (Zappa vet Tommy Mars, a die-hard Rhodes player) came back from NAMM raving about the new CX3 when it came out, describing its sound as "meaty".  I almost got one myself in Feb. but couldn't justify spending that much cash on one keyboard to my better half....

Here's an interesting clue...a VIBRATO PEDAL jack?? Maybe this is a custom job with the Fender Twin built-in like Kenneth Manning's Executone:

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/cgi-bin/gallery-display?id=4

[optional]

I've been thinking of adding this as part of the new Models section, since part of my plan is to have everybody and anybody submit photos of their pianos to populate a new gallery of examples year-by-year, ranging from grandma's living room condition to dumpster dives to hot rod mods from hell.  A serial number registry would be part of this, but including your serials would be optional.  I'll keep everybody posted as things get rolling soon.  That's Project #1 for 2009.

Now that the living room is finally sorted out a little I took a couple of pics of my NOS slip cover for the Stage 73 in use. The first shows how it goes over the piano in its closed-up position, and the second gives a closeup of the opening for the handles (which feature flaps to cover the grips when not in use):

I've got the VK-8M (module version) for the portability more than the sound, but I have a Motion Sound tube amp (i.e. with a real rotary horn) to make up for the weakness of the Leslie simulator.  My recommendation with the VK-8 is to go with the "clean" tonewheel setting if you want more of a VK-7 sound.