Recent Posts

1

Classic & Modern Fender Rhodes Artists / Re: Brian Auger Chords

« Last post by ummagumma on Yesterday at 09:01:49 PM »

Thanks for posting that, "closer to it" is one of my desert island LP's: full of great songs & a great recording too

I finally got to see Brian Auger play, a couple years ago. Fantastic! Legend

Even got a chuckle when I accused him of using his ipad for everything, and just hauling the Hammond around for show

2

The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Manzarek's "Riders" iso track

« Last post by ummagumma on Yesterday at 01:57:25 PM »

Thinking about this: Ray must have been playing through an amplifier, how else could the band hear what he was doing?

I don't see any monitor headphones and I doubt they had return lines from the 8 track running back into a monitor

So I bet they took a DI off the twin reverb. Although there is clearly a mic on the twin, you can see the stand in the pics

3

The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Mark II Plastic keys - lead weights

« Last post by chigalihape on Yesterday at 05:44:45 AM »

Hi everyone,

A picture on clfresearch's Instagram caught my attention, showing John McLaren working on a MKII suitcase https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEchjhHDF-/ . Don't know what "maximum mod" means, Rhodes mod or simply John's attitude !

The weights fixed on keys intrigued me, perhaps installed or at least kept in place by someone who knows what a Rhodes is.

Its look like Jiffy lead use for Wurli for example. So I decided to try with materials I have on hand, a roof lead sheet.
Each piece weights about 30g, like Jiffy leads, and is put around the key arm. For that test, tape is used to block the piece, to avoid making holes or any destructive technics. See picture above.

The effect is light on attack, but pretty cool on release, with a nice feel of something real under fingers. I haven't played for hours yet, but it seems to be a interesting solution to improve the plastic keys feeling. For information, my balance rail is in front position.

As anyone already try this or something similar ?


Patrick
(As usual, sorry for my English)

CLF Research is the company Leo Fender founded in 1966, where he continued to support CBS/Fender until 1970, later developed and manufactured Music Man instruments and ultimately his G&L instruments. Dave & John McLaren seem to lead the company now

4

Other Keyboards & Software Synths / Re: Pianet T Reeds - where to source?

« Last post by theseacowexists on June 18, 2021, 10:26:20 PM »

Those reeds are pretty hardy. Do you have any that are actually broken? If they're just quiet or having trouble holding pitch, there are things you can do before resorting to replacing them.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Manzarek's "Riders" iso track

« Last post by ummagumma on June 18, 2021, 07:43:56 PM »

Haha, then he goes on to say:

"He wasn't playing through an amplifier"

So there goes that theory 

He must have had a vibrato footpedal though, as the rail on the MKI in those shots is stock

6

Other Keyboards & Software Synths / Pianet T Reeds - where to source?

« Last post by coloradobenedic on June 18, 2021, 07:40:27 PM »

Hey friends... anybody out there in possession of, or know where to find reeds for a Pianet T?  Clavinet.com etc. has some new pads and resto tools still, but reeds seem pretty scarce.  I've got a Pianet T here that I've been putting off doing some work on, but finally finding some time, and wanted to ask around. 

It's in pretty solid shape, and minor cleaning/tuning isn't so hard... but I'm thinking it might be good to have some extra reeds around for the few pesky notes that seem quieter or won't stay pitched correctly.  Any help is much appreciated!  I'll try to check back on this thread every so often, or feel free to email me at benwaligoske@gmail.com

Thanks!

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Manzarek's "Riders" iso track

« Last post by ummagumma on June 18, 2021, 07:12:36 PM »

I am wondering if they took a DI out of the Twin Reverb?

Otherwise how did Ray get the trem on & off?

It would also explain the lack of footswitch noise, that surely would have been picked up, if that Twin had been miked

8

The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Manzarek's "Riders" iso track

« Last post by ummagumma on June 18, 2021, 06:36:27 PM »

Saw an interview with Bruce Botnick, who says the Rhodes was recorded DI into the mixing console

He even isolates a few seconds of it from a mixing board

It's in the "mr mojo risin' " documentary

9

The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: 54 tine sounding different - why? (comparison-video)

« Last post by Little on June 17, 2021, 08:30:16 AM »

Hi Student Rhodes,

i agree. But there are two aspetcts of my 54 that work better in live situations:

1. The velocity curve, so far i can not reproduce the beheavior. Seemes to be connected to the bump, backrail & form of the hammers. And maybe also to the tines...

2. The sound of the tines, as described above

The fine uppertones don't need so much treble (and as posted, i know the 54 can be basically brighter because of the lower imepdance - but when you use a buffer with high input impendance, this does not count any more i experienced). That makes it easier to place into a mix without boosting the treble too much. Plus - it has less sort of a 'click' than a longer sound - i like that.

The last days i tried the suggestions by @RealMC, played with the spring position and used different grommets/screw-combinations. My conclusion so far: the tines' sound stays the same - so theese are some different tines.

10

Parts, Service, Maintenance & Repairs / Decrease key dip?

« Last post by mikecap on June 16, 2021, 09:03:48 PM »

Hey y'all!

So happy this forum exists, and thanks so much to all the people who have shared their experiences. I've been doing some refurb on my '74 MK1, replaced hammer tips, damper felts, screws-washers-grommets-, and I'm about to now put in the miracle mod. I've been watching VV videos basically on loop ever since I got the kit, and the question/problem I'm getting to here is about the key dip.

I've leveled all the keys with paper shims and they all look really good and even. There was a little bit of sagging across the mids and low mids, so I ended up using the last treble key as a standard since that one felt the best to me (which funny enough is the highest pitch and highest height). That highest treble key (C), and about an octave or so below it all have a spot on key dip of 3/8". Once I get to about the D below that, key dip starts to get deeper. By the time I get to mids/low mids, I'm getting on average an additional 1/16" of dip. As I play the keys and kind of do arpeggios and scales up and down the keyboard, I can definitely feel the difference between the high treble keys and all the rest of the piano. I've seen one user on here say that shallower key dip feels more "choked" relatively, and yes those high treble keys definitely do feel tighter.

I have two questions:
1) I've seen a bunch of people say to shim the action rail to INCREASE key dip, but I haven't found anyone talking about how to DECREASE key dip. Is there a way to do this?
2) As I play the keyboard, the majority of the keys (bass through upper mids) do feel really good, and these are the ones with the deeper key dip, averaging at about 7/16". I've seen in the Rhodes manual that their spec for key dip is 3/8" plus or minus 1/16", so my second question is, should I just raise that top octave the extra 1/16" to match the rest of the keyboard?

Also wanted to note that I've looked under the key pedestals and the action rail felt all looks pretty even and in good shape, so I don't think there is inconsistency in the felt. Upon first taking everything apart, I noticed two keys were higher and looked under them to find a guitar pick, lol!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and answer!!