Student Piano Restore In Progress

[freekey]

Hello Folks,

First off I would like to express my gratitude for this forum and all of the rhodes lovers on it. I am new to the forum and my previous posts and questions have been answered with overwhelming expertise. Thank You!

I recently acquired a '69 avocado green student piano. (Yea!) The entire harp (tines and tone bars) are in great shape. No rust! My '78 is (was) decrepit compared to the '69. The key bed felts are trashed, many of them are crusty and hard. The hammers are hybrid wood teardrop with plastic and the felt teardrop hammers are pretty grooved but playable.

The biggest problem with the piano is that it STINKS! I think a family of rodents had lived in the base for years. I was not planning on going completely nuts with the refurb, but the smell is driving everybody in my family up the wall and stinking up my studio!

So, today I removed and cleaned all the keys, vacuumed the keybed and cleaned all the accessible bits. I unscrewed the keybed from the base board of the whale tail base and unscrewed the harp supports from the keybed as well. My hope is to access the bottom half of the piano, (the part with the speakers and amp in it), in order to clean and fix faulty wiring from the amp to the speakers.

For the life of me, I cannot separate the keybed from the base board. It looks like all the relevant screws have been removed, but the keybed, (or the entire frame/piece of wood that the piano sits on), will not separate more than a cm off the base board.

Are there any student piano owners who have any insight on this?

Super cool side note: The piano was owned by Ernie Fields Jr., a horn player who has played with Stevie Wonder, BB King, Marvin Gaye and The New JB's! He was super cool. He posted the piano on CL and I just happened to be the first caller. He said he wanted $200 and to come and get it. I left work immediately : ). Upon arriving at this house, he told me he had 12 calls after mine with offers up to $800! But he said: I am a man of my word and the piano is yours ... and offered to lay down some horn with me if the opportunity ever arose. How bout them apples. 

Here are some pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chavezechavez/sets/72157641639069253/

[freekey]

Ah well jeez, I just realized I overlooked two screws. Problem solved. Dougggh! Keep you posted on the refurb.

[voltergeist]

Great score.  I'm jealous!

Those felt hammers look shot.  It looks like someone had sanded out grooves without maintaining the teardrop shape - just sanded flat!  I'm not an expert on 60's student models (Max Brink at Chicago Electric Piano has the same piano, though, so he would be a good resource), but those hammers look like they're gone and need to be replaced.  VV sells both complete felt hammer assemblies (drop-in) and teardrop hammer tips to replace the ones on existing hammers.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you'll ever get your piano working decently with the hammers as they are- they appear to be beyond repair.

Check out my square-tonebar isolation mod on my sparkletop thread (page 6).  I highly recommend using this isolation arrangement (two thick felts and a washer).  Tone and sustain improved dramatically with this mod:

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=7854.0

[Student Rhodes]

Great score -- $200! 

Yeah, those hammers are done.  Sanding them square like they did sure made for a large/long surface area striking the tine.  It's  safe to say your strike line and escapement are probably not optimal.  Are you looking to restore this to original specs?  The hammers could turn out to be an expensive problem.  You may want to consider replacing these hammers with later model wood/plastic hybrids with felt or neoprene tips.  Lord knows there are enough battered Seventy Threes out there that can serve as donors.

I see my theory about the speakers on Student Models is holding true.  Someone has swapped out at least one speaker with what appears to be a Vox, ten inch.  I believe it has a smaller speaker as well, no?  Is it still in there?

Also I noticed some of your Raymac tines have been swapped out with later versions.   Pretty normal situation, actually.  I've never broken a Raymac, but I'm told they were prone to breakage an of course they're in finite supply.  You'll notice the ones that have been changed are thinner and have smaller tuning springs.

Best.

[voltergeist]

Yeah, those hammers are a much bigger problem than the smell.  My advice is plan to replace them or sell the piano.  There's no point doing anything if you don't plan to replace the hammers.

I strongly advise against replacing with neoprene tipped hammers.  Doing that may be expedient, but you'd ruin the value, the sound, and the character of the piano in one fell swoop.  That would have been a dandy solution in 1980, but it would be a travesty to do it in 2014, after the piano has survived intact for 50 years and drop-in replacement hammers are readily available.

Do it right or sell it to somebody who will.  That's my $.02.

[Student Rhodes]

I'm going to break ranks with Voltergiest on this one. I totally get his point about keeping these original, but I don't take it as gospel when something is toasted. Yeah, like anything, this Student Model is restorable, but the cost of full restoration would exceed even its collector value. Honestly, these things never seem to go for more than $900-$1000, even when they're in relatively good shape.  I see people asking $1500-$2000, but I never see anyone pay it.  That's because the average Rhodes owner probably doesn't know or care what's inside his piano, as long as it "sounds good."

I've got two Student Models.  One is pretty much stock, though it has been painted, but the other had been spray can painted black, has badly cracked fiberglass, missing the speakers and has a dead amp.  It's really just a shell.  And even restored, it's still going to be a piano that in many ways is inferior to a 72-75 Rhodes.  That's why my second one is  slated to receive the action and harp from a 74 Suitcase top that I picked up for cheap.    This way I get the super-cool look, solid keys and Torringtons (and a Peterson to boot).  The remnants are going to get stuffed in the suitcase shell for another custom machine I'm cooking up. 

I come from the world of guitar where it's sacrilege to mess with a vintage instrument in any way, but with even the most expensive Rhodes you've ever seen costing under 5 grand, I look at something like this Student Model with trashed hammers the way one would look at hot rodding a beat up car from the 50s or 60s. 

If you can inexpensively convert this to a functioning, and in some ways superior piano, I say go for it.  Just try to be tasteful.  Besides you can always stuff the old action back in there should the need arise.

In deference to V's input, I'll call that my $.01

[freekey]

Hello, yes...  I realized that the hammers would need some love. I am weighing my options. My first plan of attack is to get it clean and then to reassemble it so that I can have something to actually play, even if it is a little wonky.... ill eventually get to the hammers. My other Rhodes is undergoing a full on refurb and won't be playable for many months.

I am well aware of some of the other "spirited" posts on the forum that dive into the modified vs original argument, especially with regards to the teardrop felt hammers. So perhaps we don't need to go there, each opinion is valid and each one has an audience.

I am a designer/creative director by day and have been very inspired by the work of Custom Synth  - https://www.flickr.com/photos/customsynth/ - . He has gotten me dreaming of creating a custom dual midi controller, I am learning Solid Works, learning about paint, metallic flake, polishing, plating, power coating, necessary tools, equipment, materials, wood, etc ... in essence, it has been fun dreaming and planning out these projects, even if it is  in 5 - 10 minute stints. I have big goals for my current Rhodes refurb and if it goes well, Ill probably try and go big with the student piano as well. My time line is long and that is ok.

Cheers!

[voltergeist]

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've passionately argued both sides of the custom/original argument.  I feel strongly both ways.

[freekey]

Student Rhodes, to answer your question. There is a speaker grill for a smaller speaker, but no speaker and a 10" Vox speaker. What does yours have in it?

[Student Rhodes]

My beater came with a 10" Realistic and no small speaker.
I can't recall what my nice one has in it, but it was not original.  I was thinking about getting a 10" Jensen or perhaps something with a wider frequency response, but never got around to it.
I've heard they had a smaller speaker as well, but I've never come across one.
Best,
Ray