early seventies sound into a late seventies Rhodes ?

[filipi]

Hello everybody and thanks for the great site/forum and all these invaluable informations that you all provide.
I am new here but been watching and reading for a while since I love the Rhodes.
I have a 1978 mark I that I am about to start repairing/restoring to the best of my abilities.
But after reading extensively I came to the conclusion that the sound that I am probably after is the sound of an earlier Rhodes and was wondering if I should just try to find an earlier piano instead.
It also seems very difficult to dial in an earlier type sound in a later model from all the infos I got from the specialist on the forum.
Although lately a dilemma arose on the subject after reading about the new Vintage Vibe pianos.
They claim and seem to manage after listening to their videos that their NEW pianos have an earlier Rhodes sound .
So how do they do it and why couldn't we get that sound in a late model Rhodes ?

Thanks to all

[BerneseMtnDog]

IMO a Rhodes is the sum of its parts.  There are enough different parts in the later Rhodes that I think it would make more sense to just get the instrument from the era you like best and not try to make a late Rhodes sound like and early one.  There are fans for both early and late models so if it were me I'd sell the later one and look for an earlier one.  I haven't seen a VV piano yet so I can't comment. 

Steve

[The Real MC]

VV has acquired the original machine that made the Torrington tines used in early pianos.  That's a big part of that sound.

[Max Brink]

Just about every Rhodes has a sound of it's own and almost every year or two they are very noticeably different. And I don't think that the VV piano sounds directly analogous to any particular period of Rhodes production. It has a sound of it's own and I think the most.

Without completely swapping out the harp of the piano to get the earlier tines or finding a new piano the most significant way that you can impact the sound of your Rhodes is to use different hammer tips and I have found that a lot of the early vibes of the Rhodes came from their cubed tips.

In recent months I was pleased to sample some demo hammer tips that were sent to me that were produced in the cube shape of the Fender Rhodes period and was pleased with a test on a recent Mark II. I believe they will be on the market soon but who knows how soon... They definitely shift the sound in the direction of the classic Fender Rhodes attack--which is immediately apparent in the bass notes of the piano in particular. Implementing them on a post '76 piano with the tapered tips you'll have to adjust the strike line, escapement, and damper levels to get everything just right but if you are familiar with these adjustments I feel you would be very pleased if this is the sound that you are looking for.

[filipi]

Well it's good to know that there might be a way to 'play' with the voicing of the piano by installing new hammers , it's always nice to have options and I'll definitely look into that once they are available.
It would be even better if VV would make those 'new' Torrington tines available to fit different years Rhodes. Of course I don't know if that would make a difference but it would give even more options to play with the sound , and as you said Max , the VV doesn't sound exactly like a Rhodes but they definitely tried to get closer to an early sound and even remember them making that statement on a video or article I found. 
I agree with you BerneseMtnDog that getting an earlier Rhodes would be better but finding one seems to be getting more and more difficult specially since I only want to replace it with another suitcase , but I keep my eyes open.

As always thanks for all the great infos everybody.
Max your website is awesome and such a great wealth of informations  on our pianos. 

[David Aubke]

I assumed the tines Vintage Vibe sold as "new" were produced by their Torrington machine.
http://www.vintagevibe.com/shop/vintage-fender-rhodes-tines-reproduction/

[filipi]

So David , you're saying the Rhodes replacement tines VV sells on their website are the same tines they use on their new pianos ?

[David Aubke]

I'm assuming that's true. Definitely not "saying" it.

[goldphinga]

I'm just about to test those square tips..the squares definitely sound different to the triangle shaped tips, but similarly, if you shave down the triangular tips to a square shape the sound changes quite a bit, probably as any hard spots are removed but also theres more surface area touching the tine so maybe that has a bearing on the sound, just throwing that out there but there you go.

Has anyone tested the shore of the original tips vs the triangle tips?

The VV tines seem to work great in all pianos- theyve worked well in early 70's models right up to my 80 mk2 too...I think they got the tone spot on.

[filipi]

Well I think It is actually safe to say the tines VV sells as replacement are the same they use for their new pianos.
They mention it on their website in the "Electric Piano glossary" (look for : tines reproduction).