Anyone had success painting worn out latches, corners, hinges, handles?

[A-L]

Im restoring a 1975 73 and Im almost done with laying the tolex. My next step is replacing my worn out metal hardware. I think I will buy some new metal corners from ebay however I have a few uncommon latches on my 73 (the top splits in half) that I havnt seen replacements for. I am thinking of just blacking the remaining metal parts out with some basic spray paint. The metal on the handles should be all right but I realize that on the hinges/latches I am going to try to paint two metal surfaces and rub them together which seems like asking for trouble from the start. Any suggestions???

[Alan Lenhoff]

If it were my Rhodes, I'd spend the $50 for a complete new hardware set from Vintage Vibe.  (That's for a Stage.)  With your new Tolex, you can make the whole thing look like new.

[David Aubke]

Is it the Dyno My Piano style split top like in these pictures from Spaceduck?

That's not a factory design so, if it was me, I wouldn't be so concerned with using original-looking hardware.

From what I can see, VintageVibe seems to be selling accurate reproductions of Rhodes latches right now. Although the product page shows the wrong design, the photo for their complete hardware set suggests they have the correct latches.

I wouldn't expect paint to last long on latches and hinges.

[A-L]

@ Shade: Yes! that is the way my piano is "customized". I really had no idea it wasn't factory, can any one confirm that this is a aftermarket mod? I was surprised when I saw the lid at first because I had never seen a lid like that before. I kind of like it compared to my 50 lb heavy 88 Fender Rhodes lid on my other Rhodes. This explains why the tolex was duck taped and beat to crap on the top half of the compartment compared to the bottom. So I guess it dosnt matter what I do to those lid hinges, they probably came off of a kitchen cabinet, lol.

My question is: do you think I can paint the latches and (physically) get away with it? Do you think if I painted a latch/hinge it would flake/chip right away? (i guess this is more of a Q for painters)

@ Allen: I think the problem is that if I buy a kit I still would have to go to Home Depot and find some lid latches that match. I am considering some new corners though.

btw this Rhodes plays wonderful, it just looked like crap when I bought it. It's 50% restored now and should be 100% by next week (harp cover, tolex, brought the keys back to a nice white shine)...thanks for the help

[The Real MC]

I restored a sparkletop that had rusted hardware.  I replaced the latches with ones from Vintage Vibe.  Not period correct but they work far better than the original and my piano was far from stock anyway.

[Alan Lenhoff]

It's hard to see the  hardware from the picture, but does it look like one of these separating hinges?

http://www.hardwareelf.com/elf/hinges.jsp

Penn-Elcom also has stuff like this.  Or just Google detachable hinge or separating hinge.

[Alan Lenhoff]

More detachable hinges:

http://www.penn-elcom.com/products/hardware/hinges-lid-stays/lift-off-hinges/75/

[The Real MC]

More detachable hinges:

http://www.penn-elcom.com/products/hardware/hinges-lid-stays/lift-off-hinges/75/

The 1993 hinge is the one I installed on my piano.  Not the exact replacement but functionally the same and works great.

The other search term is "take apart hinge" that's how I found them.

[A-L]

Good links. Im going to try Home Depot, Ace, etc before I order anything online. Thanks

[Ben Bove]

Yes the 1460-1463 hinge is "technically" more era-specific for a Silvertop, but it's pretty non-user-friendly with such a large lid.  I would definitely do as MC did if you actually want to easily remove the lid