Rhodes M2 Clacking keys problem

[javartin]

Hi, I had noisy clacking keys in higher register of on my 1980 M2 ; after installing the Vintage Vibe key pedestal felt, I thought the problem could be fixed, however the problem remains.....I tried to tighten and loosen the screws of tone bar,however it's still the same.
How could I fix the clacking keys issue? Many thanks

[goldphinga]

I saw your video on Facebook, but really we need to hear some direct audio from the piano first- also close up photos of the tips and insides will be helpful. 

[sean]

Hey Javartin,

Is your complaint about the bonk or click sound that the hammer makes when it contacts the tine?  (The top ten hammer tips are made of maple wood wrapped with shrinkwrap.  It takes those hard hammer tips to make those super-short tines ring.)

or

Is your complaint about the noise of the key-return - where the back of the key falls and bounces, and the hammer falls and bounces against the pedestal?

Sean

[javartin]

Hey Sean:

"Is your complaint about the bonk or click sound that the hammer makes when it contacts the tine?  (The top ten hammer tips are made of maple wood wrapped with shrinkwrap.  It takes those hard hammer tips to make those super-short tines ring.)"  => I believe it's this.

Javartin

[Chi]

I have the same thing happening with my new Mk1 too. The treble section that have the wooden hammer tips are very very noisy when the tips contact the tines. I have listened to many videos online and have not yet come across another example where the metallic tapping noise is so pronounced. I would really like to find a way to reduce the noise if possible. There is also a jump in volume in this treble section which makes me wonder if using some softer tips might be a solution. From what I read, the wooden tips are needed because more force is required to get a sound from the short tines - but since mine are so loud already might it be OK to swap in some softer tips? I don't know - perhaps they are just old, hard and need replacing with new wooden ones.

[sean]

Hmmm... wear ear plugs.  Install a six-inch layer of fiberglass insulation on top of the piano.  Layer the lid with Dynamat.  None of these ideas are any good.

There is no practical way to eliminate the percussive whack that the wrapped-wooden hammer tips make against the stubby tines.  The best recommendation is that you learn to live with it. 

The percussive whack is not heard in the audio output of the Rhodes - prove it to yourself my making a recording:  you won't hear it in the playback.

If the top notes of your piano are too loud, simply move the pickups a bit further away from the tips of the tines.
If your hammer tips have worn through the shrink-wrap layer around the wood, you can replace or repair the hammer tips.


Sean

[Chi]

Hmmm... wear ear plugs.  Install a six-inch layer of fiberglass insulation on top of the piano.  Layer the lid with Dynamat.  None of these ideas are any good.

Sean

  Hehe, point taken - I guess it's normal then - just strange that I don't hear it in any of the youtube videos out there - not music recordings but the videos where people are recording the the room sound. If I did this you would hear the whack a lot louder than the tones but I often can't hear the treble whack at all in most other videos.