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Hello all the EP lovers. Receive my best wishes of health and music for this new year.

I have a question coming up :

I understood, reading and listening, that I should prefer the original MXR 90 pedal (script) compared to the re-edition model (solid) with the AC connector and LED on it, due to the difference in the tone and distorsion.

But have any of you tried or heard the New Vintage reed (script also) and no led on it. They pretend it has the same behaviour of the origianl one but I don't know what to think about this.

Thanks a lot for your help and may the funk be with you !
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Hi There, All my wishes for this new year.

I ordered some new corners and the other external parts. I will replace my old ones cause they are a bit rusty and corroded.

Question : is it possible to recover my old ones to a shiny bright ? And if possible, what is the best way to do it ? What is the metal they are made of ?


Thanks for your help,

Hello,

I would like first to thank all the members of this site for the useful informations we can find on it.

But after now 1 year of possession of my rhodes, I still don't get the result I would like. It's a shame cause I think my rhodes is in pretty good conditions (no rust, hammer tips in good condition).

At the beginning, I tried to voice my piano myself with your advices... No (real) success, except I understood a bit better how it works.

After that I called one piano tuner to help me, and to tune it. What he've done, but badly.

Then I called another piano tuner, who already voiced some rhodes (that's what he said). He effectively corrected the bad work the first guy has done, but I still don't have the result I want.


Concretely :
The key response is not completely homogeneous. I have the impression some keys (in the bass section), are "harder" to get hit by the hammer. Or "further" ?
I have the impression that globally, the volume is increasing more when we go in the medium, and treble. Making my play not homogeneous.
Some keys in the medium treble are even a bit louder.
Most of the keys in the treble section are playing too "high" ? I don't have real nuance between playing soft, and playing hard. It gives a kind of constant note. I don't get the same variation as in bass/medium, between soft who gives "pure" tone, and hard play who give the distorted sound. In the treble it give a constant type of sound.

I tried again to adjust some keys (the louder ones), but after the volume is too low. That's really a science. Saying voicing a rhodes is easy is not the truth 

Seeing the difficulty for a few keys, I prefer not to try for now to readjuste the full treble section, considering the keyboard is "playable" now.

What do you think :

• Am I too demanding with a 30 years old keyboard ? (Problem is that I never touched a "well set" rhodes piano to see if these irregularities are acceptable)
  Should I change my amp ? (roland KC350)
  Should I add somme effect to "smooth" the treble section ?

Unfortunately, I don't have amy specialized technician in my area (french riviera).
So, if one of you want to spend a week in holyday with his wife over here I have a room for guests, maybe we can arrange ? This is a serious proposition. I would make the touristic guide in this nice area.

Thank you for your advices !

Hi Guys,

I really begin to find that my keyboard amp is not sounding the way I want.

I will look for some tube amp such the JC120 or Twin Reverb.

Problem : in the website, I can find some reedition and some vintage I think.

Are the reeditions ok or do I rather look for a vintage one ?

Problem is that I'm not sure to be able to recognize the old from the new.. Any tips ?


Thank you for your assistance

Hi there,

I'm thinking of buying a tremolo pedal with panning effect. I found various opinions here and there.

Concerning the Boss PN 2 tremolo pan, is it appropriate to the rhodes, and will it give a similar result as a suitcase ? I have occasion to buy it for 100 euros with shipping so I cannot test it.

I understood that it was better than the newer TR2 (less loss of signal), but I also read about a clicking sound quite distubring, have any of you used it ?

Do you have another one to suggest me ??


Thanks for your help. 

Hi guys,

A small help please.

I've been in my music store to buy a pedal for my MKII stage and the salesman was good, so I'm back home with a Roland KC350...

I read here and there that it "isn't ideal" for the mid/treble range of the rhodes. Is that correct ? Anyway I think it will be already better than my hifi system. (he also tried to sell me a roland "leslie-like" cab but it was a little bit to big for my place )

Do you suggest me to buy an EQ to add to it ? If yes, do you have products to suggest me please ?


Concerning the effects, if I should buy only one, which one would it be ? (for around 100euros)

I know there is no objective answer. (my reference player is Joe sample and the crusaders, if you can advise me how to get a crusaders-like sound) ?



Thanks in advance !

Hello,

I think put too much heat on the plastic parts, so it melts and now I have the metallic part attached to the free wire, AND holes in my pickups.


Two questions :

Are my pickups definitely dead now ? (I'm waiting to receive new ones)

Do you have some advices please for me to fix the new one without breaking everything ? As you can see I'm not an expert with the solder iron... 


Thank you for your help.

Hello again.

After a few days, I realize that refurbishing this piano is not an easy game.

I realized that :

I have 4 pickups dead
15-20 upper keys are making a big clank (mechanical noise), maybe hammers hitting dampers.
The 3 extreme top right tines are not vibrating when hit. Is it a workaround for this ?
The global sound of every keys is not satisfying me at all.
The hammers (the arm in white plastic) have tendancy to  lightly gap on the left. I s it normal or fixable ?
Same problem for the tines, even if aligned with the tone bars, they have tendancy to go on the left. It make problem for the damper felts to silent them correctly. Is it a workaround ?
My hammers are quite marked by the hit (small notch). Is it required or suggested to change them or I can have a good sound keeping them like this ?
Do the damper felts need to be changed ?
Some of the keys don't hit the tines as strong as the other does. Is it possible to set the piano to have a quicker or lighter action ?


After all these questions :

Is it normal that the top of my harp is "scratching" the wood (making sawdust) on the side when I lift it up ?
Is it profitable to unmount every part of the piano to clean it up indepth ? Any use of unmounting the harp or the tone bars ?
If so, where can I found the right order to mount everything back ?
Are all these points listed above fixable ?
Is it possible to get a nice sounding Rhodes piano at the end (even if it take mounths no problem) ?  



I'm asking all these questions, cause I realize that all the parts I need (legs / pedal / pickups) will cost a respectable amount, and I don't want to make to much buying if the piano won't be able to play correctly at the end.  



Thanks a lot for listening to my complains  

Hello all,

I just bought a MKII 73 from 1981 for a correct price I hope here in France.
I was pretty lucky I couldn't test it before to buy, and after amplified him, it appears that all the keys and tines are OK.
It's quite in a good condition, no rust inside, just a little bit dirty on they keys with some tape and jam (?) ib a corner...

I'm not in a hurry, I will take my time to fully restore it, step by step and I prefer to ask some "experts" for their advices.   


Can you maybe guide me on some specific points I cannot get the answer myself ?


Pickup problem :

4 of the pickups (34, 44, 50, 52) are not working very well. The sound is extremly silented compared to the other keys... It's not a problem of pickup distance I already tried to put them closer and no change...
When I touch the pickup extremity with a screwdiver, I have a big noise on the others, but on these 4 the noise I very very poor..

Does it mean I have to change them ? Can I clean them or change only one part ?


Clicking Noise :

The 10 or 20 upper keys are making a quite big noise of clicking, kind of mechanical noise.
I read somewhere that it could be cause of the damper and hammer hitting themselves...

Is this the only explanation ? What can I do for this ?


Sustain Pedal :

I don't have it with the piano, what would you suggest me to do ? Buy a new one, a NOS, or make it myselt ?


Feet of the piano :

One of the feet is missing 
Can I buy somewhere only one ? The others are still brights and shyny, so I would like to get one original maybe if it is possible ?



Thank you for your help, I'll put pictures of it if you are interested.


Merci !