Stability of the lower notes of an 88-key Rhodes

[VintageGearFreak]

I'm having trouble getting stable decay on the lower notes of my 1974 88-key. I put new grommets in but I'm still getting wild oscillations as the tone decays. I read somewhere that doubling the tonebar springs can help stability, but I haven't tried this yet. Anyone tried this or have other tips on how to tame these tines?
--Mike

[goldphinga]

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[VintageGearFreak]

Thanks, I'll definitely look into those!

[Ben Bove]

Yes often putting a double-spring on the outside screw (closest to player) can help left to right oscillations. 

You might also be able to get more if the tine swings out to the left, see if you can adjust the screws to get the tonebar facing a little more to the right at rest so the pickup grabs more of the tine's span when it swings out.

[VintageGearFreak]

Interesting..! Since I put new grommets in the tonebars only move vertically, but on some notes I actually swapped the old grommets back in because for some reason they were giving more stable oscillations. Maybe that's what I was seeing, the bent screw allowed for some right/left adjustment play and that was pulling the tine in to be more stable.

[Tine-E]

I just remembered that I had purchased (more than a year ago) more than a dozen of the heavy stabilizing springs for the bass tines that oscillate but don't recall which of the two springs will need to be replaced by these. Do I replace just one (which one?) or both?

[Ben Bove]

I would experiment but if I recall it's the outer screw, closest to player.  Having 2 may be beneficial as well though so try 2 on a tine that is wildly oscillating.

You can take the original yellow spring you replace with the stabilizer, and double up 2 yellow springs on another tine.

[Tine-E]

Thanks bjam! I've replaced the rear (towards the player side) springs and it has eliminated if not greatly reduced side swing of the tines. There are though the more stubborn ones which may need both spring (rear + front) replaced. My concern is that these heavy springs can only be so compressed (tightened) due to its thick gauge that you may come to a low limit which no longer allows horizontal alignment of the tine to pickup. By compensating (loosening) the rear spring (consequently lowering the tine tip to align with pickup) you lessen the desired tension that stabilizes.

Haven't actually tried the second spring but just envisioned this scenario.

[Max Brink]

I'm not a big fan of the bass stabilizing springs. I tried these in several pianos and I see them in a lot of DIY repairs that pass through my workshop. In every scenario I have come across them or used them I have been able to remove them and solve the issues using other methods. The over-sized spring has to be completely depressed in order to get the escapement setup right which doesn't seem right to me. I have also found that within just one year of use they completely tear up the grommets that they are supporting--even with their increased density grommets.


First off, make sure that the tine and the tonebar are parallel with one another. In the bass section of the piano it is important that the tine is square with the center of mass of the tone bar, which might take a couple tries. Also make sure that it is mounted as firmly as possible with the tone bar. In the "0" notes of the 88 keys this can be particularly hard to get right and might take a few guess and check tries.

Also, make sure that the pickups are not set too close to the tine. This can put a magnetic force on the tine that will negatively affect the stability of the tine's sustain.


Since switching to Retro Linear grommets I have found that I spend much less time troubleshooting unstable bass notes. They seem to handle the bass better within the pianos for whatever reason. You can see and feel a big difference between their grommets and the VV ones so the production must be very different between the two (but I'm not sure what that difference would be). I even once used the Retro Linear grommets in a VV tine piano also replacing the springs with vintage Rhodes springs and I found that the bass was much more stable and more full sounding. The bark of the piano was also was more pronounced up through the mids and treble. Our shop and the player were both very pleased as our main goal was to improve the bass of his VV piano. Using the RL grommets is going to save you a lot of time in voicing the bass of a Rhodes piano and the overall sound of their grommets is much more rich and less "nasally" than the other manufacturers' grommets (I've tried and heard around 5 different grommets used in Rhodes pianos if you include generic grommets). I personally think the Reproduction parts companies would all be better off if they worked with one another using the best parts that are possible for the new Rhodes pianos... But that seems highly unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.

[Tine-E]

Yes Max, I agree with your observation the heavy springs being tightened to almost it's compressible limit and have noted that the heavier grommet was being squished out. I had wonder how long they could take the pressure.

[Fred]

Yes, the heavy bass spring should be your last ditch effort - the final straw before tine replacement.

But, it does work, and it's not to say the tines are "bad" by any means, especially if it means you don't have to replace a $20.+ part.