Pimp my Stage Piano

[Spookyman]

Ok, it's time to show you the first part of my action "pimp my Stage Piano".

There is very long time ago, my stage piano was "as normal", i mean, black. Black tolex. Black case and top. I had enough of it, and there is 5 years ago, i took the black tolex away and gave a simple paint job. I had no money then, and it had to be simple and effective. I know, the purist and full stock piano lovers will kill me...

A pic of the "old" stage piano, before pimping (sorry, i have no pics with the black tolex, but it should be enough pics on the web...) and with the Fender Bassman 100 that is also away now.



Today, i went to my cousin. he has a small piano restauration atelier.



The best way to come to professional tool for a effective wood work.



After a while, the old colour is allmost away, but most important thing, it's flat. Next week, i will put some mastic to make it perfect flat. Then comes the surfacer (3 layers). And the definitive metallic colour. And the new black hardware. And the new gold sparkle top. And the new preamp...

But thats a another story...I will post it here when i have time again to work on this little project  :wink:

[Pale]

I can't wait to see next pictures

[Spookyman]

Part II

Nothing spectacular for the moment. This afternoon it was only mastic, and sandpaper action on all the thing, to make the surface the most flat and regular as possible. It takes very long...

The tools for that (mastic in 2 components) :



First application :



And after sandpaper :





Some parts for the future...







More next week  :wink:

[tjcombs]

I'm digging the black namerail!
Looking good so far!

[Spookyman]

When i asked my friend how much it would cost to make a brand new case for my stage piano, i was shocked 'bout the price.

Now, i understand a little bit why most people are mounting tolex on theire old Fender Rhodes Pianos. It takes less time than make a case renovation. I'm working since more than 8 hours on my case, and it's still not finished. Last week i was happy about my sandpaper work, i had the impression it was flat and ok to put some colour, but...no forget it.

Last saturday, 3 hours work to put some surfacer (3 layers) and after that, you can see all iregularities in the wood.

So this week, it will be sandpaper again (but by hand, not with the machine) and 3 other surfacer (grey) layers. And a 350er sandpaper to prepare the surface for the definitive colour (Dark Blue métalisé).

So, before end of november, it will not be finished yet. Good news, next week, the top (harp cover) will be ready.



It looks allmost flat, but  in reality it looks so...



Pics from the harp cover in a few days.  :wink:

[willedsmithmo]

Kool, nice - i quite like the uneven woodgrain effect to be honest!

[SWANG]

Kool, nice - i quite like the uneven woodgrain effect to be honest!

me too!  

[Spookyman]

The wood texture will be allways a little present, even with the colour lack and with the 2K Clear Finish. Perfect flat is impossible (for me...) to achieve. And it's good so !

[battido]

Hey!

I'm really excited about how it's going to look... I'm actually retolexing mine; but no, I'VE BEEN retolexing it for a few weeks now (takes a LONG time if you can only put work in on the weekends). Okay, I have to admit, I'm quite new to this and my equipment might not be the best also but honestly: If I had known before how much work that is, I would have given it away to have it done... It's fun to work on it though.

So in the end I don't think retolexing is much less effort  

[Spookyman]

Thanks...it's an encouragement for me, when you says that it's a long job too, when you are retolexing your Rhodes. Cause last week, i was allmost ready to give up, and bring it to SSCO (Swiss Cheese & Chocolate) for retolexing.

But it's also a great satisfaction if we are doing the job from the beginning to the end. So i will continue, no matter if it gives 10 hours for the rest.  :wink:

[kitchen]

I think it looks great already with that 'gun-metal grey ' filler color !!
I've been thinking about re-tolexing too, but I thought: ''Hey,she's thirty years old now ,why should she look like brand new ? ( I like to refer to my rhodes as a lady)
As a lover of vintage instruments I'd rather have a road-worn Fender jazzbass  ( Jaco) instead of one that shines like a mirror for instance,....I'm also a sucker for reissues of 'old' guitars,basses,amps and so on.......the most important thing is that it sounds good. But that's just me.
Good luck with your restoration and keep the pics coming !!

Kitchen

[Pale]

Hey!

I'm really excited about how it's going to look... I'm actually retolexing mine; but no, I'VE BEEN retolexing it for a few weeks now (takes a LONG time if you can only put work in on the weekends). Okay, I have to admit, I'm quite new to this and my equipment might not be the best also but honestly: If I had known before how much work that is, I would have given it away to have it done... It's fun to work on it though.

So in the end I don't think retolexing is much less effort  

I disagree. I stripped off the old tolex, washed old glue all in one afternoon. Waited over night to get dry, and then aplied the new glue and retolexed my Rhodes the other afternoon. It took 2 days to strip it, clean it, and put new tolex. It wasn't hard at all. And I did it for the first time, and I had no experience in retolexing. The only tools I had were 2 sheets of sand paper, sharp knife, brush for the glue,screwdriver and patience.

[battido]

I disagree. I stripped off the old tolex, washed old glue all in one afternoon. Waited over night to get dry, and then aplied the new glue and retolexed my Rhodes the other afternoon. It took 2 days to strip it, clean it, and put new tolex. It wasn't hard at all. And I did it for the first time, and I had no experience in retolexing. The only tools I had were 2 sheets of sand paper, sharp knife, brush for the glue,screwdriver and patience.

High!

Yeah, but that depends a lot how much of the wood is coming down  together with the tolex, I think. In my case the tolex as well as the glue underneath was not too worn so it was really hard to get it off in the first place. Then I had to remodel big parts of the edges as they simply got stuck on the old tolex  and broke off. This would have been visible underneath the new. After that I had to work the complete thing over to fill larger cracks and so on.
I don't know but maybe it's just very different from one rhodes to the other...



cu

[Spookyman]

Next step is achieved :



For the moment, no change for the case, i had no time to work on it. But next week, first colour aplication should be ok.

[kitchen]

Like Bootsy : Hallelujah !! Too funky !!

Kitchen

[Mark II]

I am so excited to see where this is going to end.
nice work spooky.
did you paint it yourself ?

Keep going.
Mark II

[battido]

YEAH!!! That cover rocks! Really good!  

[andi85]

that cover is really crazy. how did you do that?

[Spookyman]

Yes, it should be funky...it's my goal too.

The paint work was done by a friend (André Lauper), a custom drum builder. (www.lauperdrums.ch). Normaly he is doing it on drum shells, but i asked him to make it for my Stage Piano Cover. He said "no problem".

And this is the result.

But, it's really not finished. The case will ask me some hours work...so, nothing before december.  The pictures of the rest of the work will follow in the next days (weeks)  :wink:

[uncle silas]

I was just about to come in here and ask how to do this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rhodes-Piano-Bass-w-Gold-Sparkle-Top_W0QQitemZ330051937796QQihZ014QQcategoryZ16220QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


But I like your top better.  I'd love to go for a sparkle top...

Anyone know how to do this sort of thing at home? (yeah right)

[Spookyman]

You can buy some glue that contains sparkle inside. But you will need a lot of tubes of glue for that. A gold lack for the first application, then the gold sparkle application, the most flat possible (with a brush), then you have to put 2 layers of  2K Clear Lack with a paint gun.

Should be possible to make it so  

[Spookyman]

Ok. It's time to show the next step.

This week, it was the colour, the paint job. Next week will be the 2k finish and rebuild all the thing. On the 23 of December, the next gig is going on. So it have to be finished...

The only thing that will not be available is the preamp (Vintage Vibe). It will have to wait until january or february. But next week, the case and rebuild work should (or must be) finished.

That was on programm today...



Outside, the temperature is about -5°C, so it has a little bit longer to become dry.

Both case parts



And the colour a little bit more in detail (with more light than the two first photos without flash light...)





It should look funky with the gold sparkle top.

[gunnar]

That looks real nice! Can't wait to see the whole thing.

[Spookyman]

And the 2K clear finish :





Sorry guys for the bad quality of the pics, it was only made with my phone. But it shows now a little bit the finish.

In 3 days, it should be dry. I will made 2 or 3 pics when mounted. But with the original output. In january, i should have my 1960's preamp (vintage vibe) with the chrome name rail. Then it will be really finished...

[Spookyman]

Today :



Sorry for the quality of the pics...i will make some pics by day. it will be better.





Not finished yet.

The final pics with the new Vintage Vibe Preamp will be for january 2007.

[tjcombs]

I really dig the gold and blue, but the pink cheeks are not for me.
Your harp top and case look awesome though

[Pale]

I'm with TJcombs, everything looks awesome except the pink cheeks.

[Spookyman]

It's really not finished yet...

The block cheeks will be black  :wink:  As usual. The latches are missing to close all the thing, and the new name rail (chrome with the preamp will bring some optic change too.

So, until end of january, i don't think it will be definitly finished. It's a first step. Thanks a lot for your comments.  :wink:

[kitchen]

Yeah, get the cheek blocks black and you're good to go !! Fantastic combination that blue and gold.....reminds me of a particular type WRC of japanese making..... (555) :wink:
Is that namerail black ? I think you should keep it that way, instead of a chrome one.
Excellent work, congrats !!

Kitchen

[Spookyman]

You're right kitchen...I'm driving a Subaru Impreza. With the famous 74 F blue and gold OZ Racing rims...And the colour used for the case is a Subaru Colour. So, there is something 'bout that.

For the name rail, i will see what wil come from Vintage Vibe. Chrome can allmost have every colour. It depends from the environnement. But for the moment, it's a black name rail.

Thanks for all your comments.  

[dom phenom]

That thing looks awesome.  

As someone who is into pimping out your rhodes, you wouldn't know where to get those diamond cut (or pattern, or whatever they're called) chrome plates for the front, would you?  I'm taking mine apart to fix it up, and figure i might as well make it look all special.

looks like this: http://www.elecedge.com/nickrolfe.html

[tjcombs]

That was a custom job from Electric Edge, but as far as I know, you should be able to get that at some hardware stores or automotive stores.
Then you'd have to get it bent to shape using a press of some sort, or screw some L shaped tabs on the ends to get it to attach to your namerail.
TJ

[Swatkins]

I'm taking mine apart to fix it up, and figure i might as well make it look all special. l

Hey Dom, have you considered a snakeskin pattern tolex job with the Speakeasy Vintage black hardware?  That would probably look pretty special.

[dom phenom]

snakeskin and checkerboard were high on the list, but i kind of wimped out and went for gold tolex.  going to try and find a paint that will adhere to metal and repaint all external hardware pieces as well.  

ps.  i heard they replaced you with John Anthony.  bummer.

[Spookyman]

Ok, small update to put a new picture from my Stage Piano. But with another namerail and preamp...



The definitive nameplate for the preamp is not finished yet (infos from Vintage Vibe) so it has a little bit the look of a prototype. But i'm loving that...

For infos about the sound, there is another topic in the general discussion forum  :wink:

In the coming week, i will perhaps put some sound clips, only with the preamp (without Twin Reverb)

[The Real MC]

Classy  

[nphase]

very nice!