keycaps

[dom phenom]

i have a real beater i'm trying to fix up, and a bunch of the keys have cigarette burns (a very common issue that never ceases to amaze me, i mean, c'mon, don't put a lit cigarett on your f'ing rhodes).  I was wondering if anyone knew whether acoustic piano keycaps would fit the rhodes' keys, or any other source of new caps.  I believe mine has the one piece caps.  I saw that i could get new ones from the dutch repair shop, but they are pretty expensive ( i think like $10 a piece), and entire sets of acoustic paino caps are under $50.  

thanks

[Pale]

i have a real beater i'm trying to fix up, and a bunch of the keys have cigarette burns (a very common issue that never ceases to amaze me, i mean, c'mon, don't put a lit cigarett on your f'ing rhodes).  I was wondering if anyone knew whether acoustic piano keycaps would fit the rhodes' keys, or any other source of new caps.  I believe mine has the one piece caps.  I saw that i could get new ones from the dutch repair shop, but they are pretty expensive ( i think like $10 a piece), and entire sets of acoustic paino caps are under $50.  

thanks

I don't think people put lit cigarettes on the piano, I think they smoke while they play, and sometimes ashes from cigarette fall on the keys and make burn marks.
On the other hand, maybe they are not smoking cigarettes...

[piano ma'am]

If the cigarrette burn marks are *at the very end of the keyboard* (either side) chances are the person playing set their lit WHATEVER down.

About your keytops Dom...

If I get around to it, I'll take a look at my Rhodes and see about the keytop issue.
I am a piano technician and I'll see if the keytops measure up the same with those in my supply catalogs..
But remember- it's the COLOR of them you'd like to match up too- and that can be even more difficult!

[Pale]

If the cigarrette burn marks are *at the very end of the keyboard* (either side) chances are the person playing set their lit WHATEVER down.

About your keytops Dom...

If I get around to it, I'll take a look at my Rhodes and see about the keytop issue.
I am a piano technician and I'll see if the keytops measure up the same with those in my supply catalogs..
But remember- it's the COLOR of them you'd like to match up too- and that can be even more difficult!

Yeah, but he can always exchange the whole set if those piano keycaps match rhodes keycaps. ( and if it is a cheaper solution than to find original Rhodes keycaps ).

[piano ma'am]

yyyeahhh.. but then it wouldn't be so "original"!!

:wink:

[dom phenom]

thanks for the reply.  as for originality, i'd gladly take a non-original but shiny and uniform white to the non-original crevassed yellow i have now.  

keep me posted on the key size.

thanks,

dom

[piano ma'am]

I'll have a look Dom.

Where are you located, BTW??

Would you try to tackle this yourself or would you look into having the tops replaced by someone else?

 

[Pale]

thanks for the reply.  as for originality, i'd gladly take a non-original but shiny and uniform white to the non-original crevassed yellow i have now.  

keep me posted on the key size.

thanks,

dom

Same here. It looks to me like there's a lot of people here that are more concerned with "originality" and "authenticity" than with playing the damn piano.

[piano ma'am]

Easy there Palester!!

I was just trying to figure out whther or not he needed a COUPLE of key tops rather than a whole set.
Why fix what isn't broken?

Now that I know he's not happy with the rest of the set I know better how to help him.

Sheesh!

[dom phenom]

located in NYC.  i guess i could have someone do it if that's the only way,  but i'd like to do it myself.  The whole point of getting this beater was to refurbish it on my own to learn how to do it, before tackiling my suitcase.

[Pale]

Easy there Palester!!

I was just trying to figure out whther or not he needed a COUPLE of key tops rather than a whole set.
Why fix what isn't broken?

Now that I know he's not happy with the rest of the set I know better how to help him.

Sheesh!

Oh, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking in general. Too many people are bothered with "original" tolex, "original rhodes sound" etc, and people actually don't talk about playing the piano, they are mostly focused on equipment.

Someone here had a good sig, I think it was Spookyman, it was something about everyone can buy good equipment, but not anyone can use it like it's supposed to be used. ( or something like that )

[piano ma'am]

OK I hear you...

And thanx for the clarification.

I make a living working on acoustic pianos and in this type of work we try to salvge what is original and if we can't, we replace it with something quite similiar.
I can't tell you how many customers wan't things "just so" and there's even more that will settle for nothing other than original parts refurbished.

People are funny... especially about keytops.

It's the part on the instrument we see and (obvoiously) touch.
If a nice shiny set of ultra-wite key tops were put on something that looked "vintage"... well....

You've seen old people with new dentures, haven't you??

[Pale]

OK I hear you...

And thanx for the clarification.

I make a living working on acoustic pianos and in this type of work we try to salvge what is original and if we can't, we replace it with something quite similiar.
I can't tell you how many customers wan't things "just so" and there's even more that will settle for nothing other than original parts refurbished.

People are funny... especially about keytops.

It's the part on the instrument we see and (obvoiously) touch.
If a nice shiny set of ultra-wite key tops were put on something that looked "vintage"... well....

You've seen old people with new dentures, haven't you??

I agree! But you can always make new caps look old, it's a bit more difficult to make old caps look new.

[dom phenom]

i saw these on ebay, and look to me like regular wood keys with regular plastic caps, but they are advertised as plastic keys.   Can someone with more experience tell me if I am right or not?

Thanks,

Mike

http://cgi.ebay.com/Set-Of-88-Plastic-Keys-For-Fender-Rhodes-Piano_W0QQitemZ270076727604QQihZ017QQcategoryZ16220QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[piano ma'am]

Yeahhh.. they do look like wooden ones with plastic tops.
Have you emailed him yet?
I'd try to get in touch with him.
Hopefully you have the same model and the key angles might be slightly different.

:mrgreen:

[dom phenom]

well, mine is a 71 stage 73, and he says his are from a 81 88 key.  does anyone know if the keys were redisigned in that time, at least in a way that would make them incompatible?

also, any luck with the key cap measurements?  

i asked vintage vibe what they did, and they said they sand the key and then use compound and buff it.  Unfortunately, that invovles a bit more equipment than I have around.

[piano ma'am]

Hi Dom..

OK- I took a measurement and without getting into 32nd's and 64th's of an inch, here's what I came up with.

I have a stage 73 also.

I measured my C4:

width:   7/8"

head length: slighly longer than  1 7/8"
(measure from the 90 degree "notch"  to front of key)

complete overall length of key top:   5 13/16"


OK.

Here's some measurements of some stock replacement keytops I have:

width:   7/8"

head length:   1 15/16th

overall length:    6 1/8"

So.... seems the reaplacments will work.
But you'll need a good file for fine fitting and the correct glue.

Couple of questions now.

-How do you plan on removing the older ones? (most tech's use routers) and it can be *quite* dangerous if you even bring a knife into the picture. (You won't have as many fingers to play those nice, shiny keys...)

-Did you inquire as to how much your set would cost to have Vintage Vibe do the work? (Even if you just sent them the "bad' ones?)

And last but not least...sure you don't know anyone with a buffing wheel?
(I'll bet you could tackle that all yourself..)



Anyways- I hope this helps some.

OH- I don't know for sure but I wouldn't try to mix your model's keys with another one's keys.
In acoustic pianos anyways, the key angles are cut for that specific model and aren't interchangeable.

Best of luck!

[dom phenom]

Thanks for all the help --

I've been talking to a local rhodes tech, and he made it sound like he could fix them for me fairly inexpensively.  Otherwise i figured i would try to pop them off myself, just foloow the instructions in the service manual, but I think you've talked me out of it.  I'll let you know how it turns out, thanks!

[tjcombs]

This guy sells a ton of Rhodes parts.
If it says they're plastic, they probably are.
They look plastic to me.

[piano ma'am]

Hey good luck with it Dom!!

And I'm glad you found a Rhodes person who may be able to help you..

Removing old keytops is quite dangerous and I know of two technicians who have had severe damage (requiring surgery) to their hands due to removing old keytops.

Keep us posted on how you make out with all of this!

[The Real MC]

Yes those are two piece keys.

[rajproductions]

I don't know if this is the same specs or will work, but I came across this site today when searching for parts:

https://www.pianoparts.com/index1.html

Scroll down to the middle of the page.... they are called "Key tops".... I was told that they have sold them to someone who was replacing the caps on their Rhodes.

[Fred]

Dom, if your piano is a "71, it has the full skirt key. The wood section of the key itself is not shaped like the cap, as in a conventional piano. Most piano caps are much thinner and not of full skirt design, ie: the wood key is visible on the sides when an adjacent key is depressed.  As far as I know, the early Rhodes caps are exclusive to those models. BTW, unless the picture in that link was changed, those are early keys like yours, not from the piano he described, which would have had a conventional piano style key and cap.

[dom phenom]

Thanks for all the advice.  I think the best option for me as a novice repairer with no real tools to speak of  is to have them fixed up by a shop.  I got an estimate from speakeasy, but it was a little expensive, i'll see if a local piano shop can do it for less.

Unfortunately that set on ebay is no longer available  :cry:  

Does anyone hwave any recomendations as to a good polish to restore the white on keys that are not otherwise damaged, just a bit yellow?


thanks,

-Dom

[kitchen]

That's funny, I was thinking about a way to get my keys to look a little more yellow i.e. a bit older.

Kitchen

[Pale]

I have a miraculous solution: exchange your keys

[thermionicjunky]

I've purchased a set of those keycaps on ebay and I'm happy with them. It takes alot of filing down but it looks good. So far I've only used them to replace badly chipped keys , so it was very easy to remove them.

[dom phenom]

I've purchased a set of those keycaps on ebay and I'm happy with them. It takes alot of filing down but it looks good. So far I've only used them to replace badly chipped keys , so it was very easy to remove them.

which key caps are you refering to?  the stuff i've seen on ebay is all whole keys, and from what i've seen on the postings here it sounds like different model's keys might not fit each other.

[thermionicjunky]

Perhaps the ebay references were about entire keys. But I have purchased only the white covering. I doubt that any discrepencies should come into play with these.