Balance rail felts missing

Started by andyallen, September 03, 2009, 11:07:06 PM

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andyallen

First off let me say because of the information I gathered on this site I was able to confidently purchase my first rhodes piano, a 1976 mark I off craigslist for a pretty good deal.  Thanks to all the contributors.  

As I have started to 'voice' my rhodes I have been using the manual as my guide and I noticed when cleaning out the keybed that only leveling punchings are present on the balance rail and no felts - the balance rail felts i ordered from vintage vibe came in today and i put some on and the keys seem way too high almost like it was designed to not have those balance rail felts, or at least ones not nearly as thick.  

Has anyone encountered this situation?  Is it harmful to the action to play without balance rail felts?  

Thanks -

Ben Bove

You might want to check the back of the keys - there is a strip of felt that catches the back of the keys when they fall down and return to stop.  Way in the back, it's possible someone might have installed a really thick felt back there or something which would mess with the leveling of keys if you had balance rail felts on.

Also check to see if the balance rail itself is somehow raised or shimmed on the sides, visible with the bottom-most and top-most keys out.

If not, I guess it wouldn't destroy anything, but the wood movement across the rail might crush the punchings... or possibly wear at the wood but that would take a very long time to do.
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andyallen

There is the keybed felt in the back but to me it looks original and not too terribly thick, it is a dark red in color, and I am really taking an educated guess that it is the original.  

The balance rail looks level and un-touched.  As you predicted the few paper shims that are on there have been wearing down over the years due to the lack of felt.  What is strange for me is that the insides otherwise look untouched.   The keys all have a 3/8" dip and I don't seem to have any escapement issues as is.  is it possible it left the factory this way?  or more importantly - if it ain't broke dont fix it?  

thanks for your input

jim

when you say the keys look too high after the felts are on, what are they high in reference to? does the front pin still reach into the front of the key?

are there extra thick cardboard punchings? if so they may be playing the role of the felt, and could be replaced by the felt.

andyallen

good question, and no the front pin does not reach the front of the key, that was one of the things that I first noticed.  Also, with the balance rail felts on the keys stuck above the front part of the casing, about a 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch or so, enough to notice the gap.  

strange thing is the few balance rail felts present are the paper thin ones and a lot have disentegrated over the years.  

Fortunately the action feels fine without them so I am not messing with them until it becomes a problem!

jim

yeah that's fair enough

8)

the only other thing (actually not the "only other thing..i could fiddle for ours) i would suggest would be to check that the keybed is all joined together properly, and see if maybe there are weird shims anywhere or anything.

i once worked on a rhodes with metal washers under every key, people do strange things.