My dumpster dive Fender Rhodes!

[lorse]

I'm missing one pickup and the control knob panel.
I'd like to fix this up!

comments and suggestions welcome.
Nice to find this forum.

[Ben Bove]

Would love to find out more about this rhodes - the serial number is a very old one.  Feel free to take a lot more pictures with the top off, the hammers, etc.

Can you locate any ink-stamped date codes on the wood harp?  Conveniently enough that the namerail controls are missing, is there a date code on the side of the lowest 1 or 2 keys?  (they just lift out)

Does it have teardrop piano hammers, or hammers with square felt or rubber tips?

Are the tonebars square-ish silver colored, or twisted silver / gold?

Pickups wound with green or red coil?  

Thanks!

[lorse]

The pickups are wound with red... that's all I can tell you from memory.
Is there a good source for these pickups?
I see I can buy five on ebay for about 30 bucks... but I only need one.

Here's the other shots that were on my camera:






I'll try to look into it further when I get home.

Thanks for your response.

[Rob A]

There's a namerail with stage tone controls on ebay right now.

[lorse]

Would that be the correct one for this model?
All I can tell by reading the "History of" page that this is pre 1971..

right?

[Rob A]

It will work fine but it won't have the historically accurate badge. You'll have to decide if that's "correct" enough for you.

[lorse]

Thank you Rob... I am all new to this, but very excited about restoring this Piano and keeping it for my children.

What are the odds that I might find the historically correct part?

[andi85]

On the other hand, that almost cries for a Vintage Vibe namerail...  

[lorse]

On the other hand, that almost cries for a Vintage Vibe namerail...  

Yes... but could I find one?

[Rob A]

Thank you Rob... I am all new to this, but very excited about restoring this Piano and keeping it for my children.

What are the odds that I might find the historically correct part?

pretty damn good when you're hanging around with a bunch of Rhodes fiends. At some point it gets expensive, but you have less into yours than any of us do.

If you were so inclined, you could part yours out for a tidy sum. Look up tine prices on ebay and be amazed. Some people assign a premium value to the earlier tines (I'm not one of those).

Also, I believe andi85 is referring to this aftermarket namerail+preamp.

[andi85]

http://www.vintagevibe.com/p-340-stage-vibe.aspx
http://www.vintagevibe.com/p-243-rhodes-piano-quadrapuss-multi-effects-rail.aspx

Sorry, I should have included the links right away. Might be more than you're willing to spend, but...well...maybe not.
Makes me dream of having two pianos again. One in original condition and one really bada$$ customized monster

[lorse]

I do appreciate that... but I'm not really interested in after market parts.
I could use one of them logos though.

[lorse]

Thank you Rob... I am all new to this, but very excited about restoring this Piano and keeping it for my children.

What are the odds that I might find the historically correct part?

pretty damn good when you're hanging around with a bunch of Rhodes fiends..

I'm not pushing up anyones bid here am I?

[Rob A]

My max bid on that logo batch was exceeded by the second bidder. If you do win, I'll buy the extra seventy-three badge off you as added incentive.

[lorse]

My max bid on that logo batch was exceeded by the second bidder. If you do win, I'll buy the extra seventy-three badge off you as added incentive.

Cool... I'll check the auction on cinco de Mayo!

[jim]

so, i noticed on the harp there is only one rail between tine rail and pickup rail. ..in the middle..cool.


also, i place higher value on older tines. if they aren't dead that is.

[lorse]

so, i noticed on the harp there is only one rail between tine rail and pickup rail. ..in the middle..cool.


also, i place higher value on older tines. if they aren't dead that is.

I'd really like to get the Vintage date of this Piano nailed down... any clues?
There are no date codes under the keys.
I plugged it in and the low end plays... but obviously needs a potentiometer or something. When I replace that one pick up I'm sure the thing will come alive.

[jim]

you could pull out the pickup and see if perhaps it's just the wire at the end of the winding that is disconnected, that way, it's just one swing back around the pickup and you have enough wire to connect to the end pole again.

[lorse]

you could pull out the pickup and see if perhaps it's just the wire at the end of the winding that is disconnected, that way, it's just one swing back around the pickup and you have enough wire to connect to the end pole again.

As you can see here:



The pick up is missing completely.

[jim]

oh dur mee, ha.

well you could just bridge the gap with some wire?

[keysandslots]

If it were mine, I would just "borrow" one from either end of the piano.  At least you could play it while you're looking for a replacement.

Randy

[Ben Bove]

Sorry haven't been able to respond quicker on this.

The piano appears to be from 1970.  Perhaps late 1969 1970.  The middle crossbrace as opposed to 2 braces was used with this non-gold zinc coating style of tonebars:



A date code is then probably located on the underside of the harp.  You'll need to unscrew it from the side support blocks, swivel it up, and check the underside, probably bottom right corner - as in this pic (on the harp by the metal strip):



You cannot get normal pickups to fit on this piano without redrilling a hole.  The shafts (metal tabs) are much longer on these pianos than standard pickups available on ebay.  You can see this by the hole for the pickup screw on yours being very close to the end tab, like this pic:



Standard pickup screw holes appear in the center of the tab, and are much shorter in length:

You can get a standard one to work, make sure the screw is connected/bridged to the metal grounding strip.  however musicpartsguru.com might have the correct length for you.


The correct namerail that goes to this piano has no faceplate with knobs numbered 1-10, with a wooden base underneath the rail.  Most standard aluminum rails don't use this.  I haven't had the chance to check if they're interchangeable, I'm sure they are:





Last question - are the hammertips black rubber or square felts?  It appears the piano was "rebuilt" in 79 so the tips might have been changed out with neoprene rubber.

[lorse]

Last question - are the hammertips black rubber or square felts?  It appears the piano was "rebuilt" in 79 so the tips might have been changed out with neoprene rubber.

Hey, thanks for the very detailed response.

The little square felts below... are those not "hammertips?


Please excuse my ignorance.

[Mark II]

the "felts" you are referring to are the damper felts (#18 in the picture below), right hand off the blue tuning spring sitting on the tine, the things that's vibrating when hitting a key.

see the picture below, #14 is the hammer tip bjammerz is talking about.



kind regards

Mark II

[Ben Bove]

Hey thanks Mark II!

The hammer tips would either be white "teardrop" acoustic-piano-looking hammers, or be white square felt cubes and look like this:



Rubber looks like this:

[lorse]

Got it... nice details from the two of you.
I'll look when I get home and let y'all know.

Cheers.

[james]

In case anybody is wondering, the plastic shank teardrops from around 1969 would look like this.  Without being able to see beneath the dampers you can't tell the difference between those and the square felt-tips, because the plastic has the same old yellowed color that you see on pianos up through 1975.



More info on the pre-rubber tipped action designs is found in Chapter 8 of the Service Manual:

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/org/manual/ch8.html

If your piano really is from 1970, the final felt-covered hammer design should be what you've got in there.  

The "tear drop" Hammer Head was excellent for standard pianos, however, it tended to wear a groove, and as the groove deepened, the quality of sound deteriorated. Replacement was cumbersome and costly.

While this type of Head was retained for awhile, another innovation followed soon (Figure 8-4). It consisted of a wooden Head with a Felt Tip, which was easily removed for replacement. This was a major step forward in that replacement could be done inexpensively by the musician.

[jim]

and yes the two different namerails are interchangeable. my red'cream rhodes stole one from the dead body of a fallen comrade.

[Rob A]

my red'cream rhodes stole one from the dead body of a fallen comrade.

Ghoul!

[lorse]

Looks like the hammer tips are rubber:


Heres a couple of stamps... date codes?







Is this a modification to bypass the frame rail?
And is that a ground strap on the far left?



Here it is in it's case

[james]

1971 would be a pretty good guess with or without the date codes, I think.  One thing that's unclear is whether the felt tips were replaced with rubber ones later on down the road (which wouldn't be surprising) or if they're the originals.  You might investigate to see if the felt tip slots on the hammer shanks have been modified to accommodate the rubber tips, following the procedure in Chapter 9 of the Service Manual:



BTW, where on the Central Coast are you?  I'd love to see this thing in person!

[Fred]

Does anybody know when the gold badge went from Santa Ana, Ca to Fullerton, Ca? I have a Fiesta Red Bass with a tag that reads Fullerton, a '68 Silvertop marked Santa Ana,(which lorse's has) and a 71 stage marked Fullerton...

[lorse]

There's a namerail with stage tone controls on ebay right now.

I bought that namerail today, no competition for 40 bucks... with a buy it now @ 65.00.
Fair deal?
I hope that hooking it up, and completing the circuit where the missing pickup is, will bring this piano alive!

[Mark II]

There's a namerail with stage tone controls on ebay right now.

I bought that namerail today, no competition for 40 bucks... with a buy it now @ 65.00.
Fair deal?
I hope that hooking it up, and completing the circuit where the missing pickup is, will bring this piano alive!

I got mine for 20 bucks, but as it was a Mark II namerail it's a little bit different.
I would say 40 is middle to upper limit of a fair price.
Someone hand lorse the dimension for the namerail mounting screws. I cant cause I am European and dont understand the US dimensions :wink:

Mark II

[jim]

one inch is...2kilometers??

[Mark II]

one inch is...2kilometers??

Hit

[Rob A]

Nah it's 3.5 hectares.

[Mark II]

but to demonstrate that I am a nice guy I will give away the dimensions in [mm]:

length: 31
diameter: 3.5 to 4
wood type screw, philips head

all the best

Mark II

[lorse]

but to demonstrate that I am a nice guy I will give away the dimensions in [mm]:

length: 31
diameter: 3.5 to 4
wood type screw, philips head

all the best

Mark II

My actual hobby is old Volkswagens, so mm is good for me.

[Mark II]

lucky me
You will need 4 of them screws.

Which model@Volkswagen ?

Mark II

[Ben Bove]

Lorse did you have any luck possibly locating a date code on the underside of the wood harp?  If you unscrew the large phillips screws holding it down, then swivel it up, you can probably find the date, bottom right hand corner.

Being that they're not zinc plated tonebars with center bracket I'd have to say 1970, tips definitely replaced with mid generation neoprene (not fully dyed, only on side)

[lorse]

lucky me
You will need 4 of them screws.

Which model@Volkswagen ?

Mark II

Thank you...
I have a '63 bone stock beetle, '67 stock Westfalia Bus and a '78 Westfalia

Those screws are very tight... so I touched 'em with a bit of PB Blaster.
I'll check back on doing that harp swivel tonight.

[Fred]

Kool! I got a '65 stock Beetle w/ a rebuilt 40 horse

[Ben Bove]

Fred I'll ask about the Santa Ana / Fullerton question, get back to you on that.

[lorse]

Kool! I got a '65 stock Beetle w/ a rebuilt 40 horse

Sweet... I'm rolling with 40 horses as well and 6v

[Fred]

Ahh 6v... Who needs to beep their horn while the headlights are on?

[lorse]

Ahh 6v... Who needs to beep their horn while the headlights are on?

:lol:

[Ak_attack]

Kool! I got a '65 stock Beetle w/ a rebuilt 40 horse

Neato, we have a 1970 Beetle and a 1972 SuperBeetle! I think the SuperBeetle is 2 inches longer than the original. lol

[lorse]

Alrighty, I finally got a look at at the date code stamp under the harp: "I 1970"

I got the name rail today and it sure looks sweet... need to go out and get the right screws to fix it down... then plug it in!
updates to follow.

[Ben Bove]

Wow it doesn't have a written out date like March 28 1970?  just "1 1970?"  That's very odd.  Do you have a digital camera?