Somebody please, please help me!!

[Kevin Marsh]

  :'(Ok, so I'm new here for starters. Hi everybody. After several years of longing for a Fender Rhodes I finally got one yesterday. Picked it up for $600 at a local auction house and it is in the mintiest mint condition you could imagine. It looks like it could've been made a week ago. No tears in the tolex, or yellow keys and the tines are even in tune. So anyway, stupid curious me... I took it upon myself to lift the harp assembly. Didn't seem like a big deal to me (and maybe still isn't for all I know). But now a bunch of keys are a bit off. On the last key (it's a 73 by the way) the hammer doesn't strike the tine but instead hits the block holding the tine. It wasn't doing this before, at least I don't think it was. And several other keys sustain indefinitely, i.e. the felt isn't hitting them upon release. I know there's probably many posts that speak of these issues but I don't what I'm looking for to find them. I know there's also many youtube videos about tuning/voicing but once again, I don't know exactly what to look for/type in to find the info I need. I wish I just left it alone! It was playing perfectly an hour ago. I feel like this may take many hours to reverse. Someone please help me!

[Kevin Marsh]

Kept messing around a little more. It's mostly back to where it was, but there's still a bunch of funny keys. The first octave mostly. WTF!

[Cormac Long]

When you lift the harp, it can easily move from side to side, meaning that it may be out of position when you lower it back down. Another nasty here is that you may move it again when the tines are resting on the dampers and can cause the dampers to move out of position.

To rectify this, raise up the harp again and then press the sustain pedal to ensure that the dampers are all lowered. Then Lower the harp and try to align the screw holes over the matching positions on the supports.. because this is where everything was before you changed anything.

Gently release the sustain pedal so that the dampers are returning to the tines.. you can keep it partially pressed keeping the felts just under the tines while you fine-adjust the harp positon to ensure all is aligned. Ideally you want the tine centered on the damper felt. There may be existing grooves on the felts to guide you to their original positions.

If the damper style is separate dampers as opposed to the later octave sets, some of the dampers may also have moved left or right and may need to be straightened. But see how you get on first with the above steps.

Welcome to World of mechanical instruments!

[Kevin Marsh]

Thanks dresdn! That just about did it. There's about three keys giving me difficulty now but I think they just need some minor adjustments. Except for the last key. The hammer still isn't striking right. There's a possibility that it wasn't striking right before I messed with the harp and I just thought it was, but I'm pretty sure it was working ok. The hammer either hits the metal block that the tine is mounted in, or if I adjust it the hammer gets stuck behind the block and I have to pull it back down manually.

[Kevin Marsh]

Oh also, is there a way of centering the felts? I noticed some of the notes I haven't been able to voice properly have very off center felts, and in some cases the tine doesn't even make contact with the surface of the felts but with the side. I feel like this may be somehow contributing to the weird overtones (not the good harmonic kind) that I can't seem to get rid of.

[Kevin Marsh]

Well I got everything in order except the last (73rd) key which seems like the hammer may possibly have been set wrong at the factory. So I raised the level of the tine enough for the hammer to clear the metal block that the tine's mounted to. Unfortunately it's so high it won't touch the felt, so no dampening, but it's the highest note so it doesn't really sustain much anyway. I think can live with it.

[pianotuner steveo]

It sounds like you need to move the strike line in the treble just a hair towards the front of the piano
( keyboard) Loosen all 4 harp mounting screws but keep one in the bass somewhat tight, only slightly loosened. The other 3 should be taken out, then slightly slide the harp towards you in the treble and see if this helps the original problem. If so, reinsert the scews while keeping the harp in that position. Hopefully you can do this without having to redrill any holes.

If you can't, it may be easier just to reposition that last tine towards the keyboard. The tine mounting holes were not drilled with precision according to someone I spoke to that worked at the original factory. You would have to fill the original holes, then redrill right in front of the originals. (Again, towards the keyboard)

The felts can be straightened with needle nose pliers, but if they just go right back to where they were, it may be time to replace them with stiffer felts. (IE grand piano damper felts with the red backing)

[bumpyrhode]

I had a similar problem with the hammer hitting the block instead of the tine.
Seems when I lifted the harp a shim had fallen out and fell between the harp
support and the side of the case. Spent a while adjusting the strike line and
couldn't fix it. I just happened to drop a screw down the same spot and found
the shim. Put it back in and everything was fine.

[Kevin Marsh]

  Did everything I was told and I now have a perfectly voiced, tuned, set up Rhodes that is an absolute freaking dream to play. Definitely my all time favorite instrument and the best instrument I've ever owned for sure. Thanks for the help guys!!