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Tone bar length table?

Started by thebob, March 19, 2023, 02:06:07 PM

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thebob

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

pianotuner steveo

It was a page in the original service manual
It should be on this site somewhere
1960 Wurlitzer model 700 EP
1968 Gibson G101 Combo organ
1975 Rhodes Piano Bass
1979 Wurlitzer 206A EP
2009 73A Rhodes Mark 7
2009 Korg SV-1 73
2017 Yamaha P255
2020 Kawai CA99
....and a few guitars...

thebob

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.

pianotuner steveo

Oops, I misread it, I thought you were asking for tine lengths. Why do you need the bar lengths?  Do those notes sound noticeably different?
1960 Wurlitzer model 700 EP
1968 Gibson G101 Combo organ
1975 Rhodes Piano Bass
1979 Wurlitzer 206A EP
2009 73A Rhodes Mark 7
2009 Korg SV-1 73
2017 Yamaha P255
2020 Kawai CA99
....and a few guitars...

thebob

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).