Static on pressing sustain pedal

[tjcombs]

On my Mark V, I get static on my signal whenever I press down my sustain pedal. I don't know what could be causing this. I've gone over all my ground connections and replaced all the wiring, rca jack, everything. I'm going crazy here. When I touch my faceplate I get a slight buzz/hum as well. I know this sounds like a ground issue, but I don't know where it could be coming from. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[Mark II]

Hi
use another cable to hook your mark v to your amplification.

Mark II

[tjcombs]

Thanks for your reply!
I have tried that already with no better results.

[BJT3]

TJ, not familiar with the Mark V sustain pedal assembly. I remember before I knew about that wooden felt dowel thing for the sustain pedal on my Mark II I use to just have the metal sustain rod going right to the metal damper bar. I would get static similar to what you describe until I attached the felt thing. Could it be you are missing a part for your sustain pedal?

[tjcombs]

I have the dowel, dowel housing,and  felt on both ends.
I've discovered that there's a ring of metal around the hole for the sustain pedal. This metal is connected to the outer case.
When I (or my sustain rod ) touch the ring , I get a slight buzz. Same thing when I touch the outer case. Then, if I touch the harp support at the same time, all my problems dissapear. My thoughts tell me this MUST be a grounding issue, but I'm Soooooo lost!   :cry:
I'm not sure what else to try. I've tried connecting wires between all sorts of contact points but have had no better results.
I'm wondering if there's a ground issue somewhere in the pickup chain, but I have no idea how I'd find that out, short of resoldering every pickup connection.

A temporary solution I've come up with is to use wooden sustain pedal rod, that I made from 2 sections of different size dowel. That way, nothing conductive touches the metal ring our outer case while I play.  It works, but it's not adjustable. As long as I don't change the height I should be fine, but I STILL want to figure out my damn problem!!

I wonder if a section of electricians tape around my sustain rod would work?

[BJT3]

hmmmm. Is this metal ring on the actual pedal or the hole on the bottom of the Rhodes case? Do you have a wire connecting your damper bar to ground? Here's a pic of mine...


Mine has a plastic ring in the hole at the bottom of the case. Maybe try wrapping the metal ring (or that part of the rod) with electrical tape?

[keysandslots]

My Mark  I did not come with a ground wire attached to the damper (the big metal thing) so I attached a loop of wire to it using a sheet metal screw and grounded the wire to the harp ground.  That fixed the problem.  Your problem is mostly likely a ground problem so make sure all of the grounds lead back to the main ground on the jack from the harp.

Randy

[tjcombs]

I've grounded my sustain bar, and made new cables to do all the rest of the grounding. I'm confidant that my soldering work is correct, but without a multimeter there's no way to be certain.

The ring is on the bottom of the Piano, housed inside the plastic case.