What's wrong with this note?

[David Aubke]

I just spent a very long time diagnosing a bum note. See if you can tell what's wrong.
http://www.shadetreekeys.com/Rhodes/10617/HauntedNote.mp3

It's the fourth and eighth notes. It's not a voicing issue.

I began referring to it as the "haunted note" because it defied explanation for so long. You might immediately identify the problem.

[rhodesjuzz]

Can it be pickup related?

[The Real MC]

It would help if you reveal what was done to attempt to correct it.

[David Aubke]

Can it be pickup related?

I swapped pickups around. Didn't help. The problem didn't follow the pickup.

[David Aubke]

It would help if you reveal what was done to attempt to correct it.

I know. I'm curious if anyone can just hear it though. I'm feeling a little foolish for having spent so much time on this.

[Tim W]

Wrong hammer tip?  Possibly wrong era tine with wrong strike point also.

[David Aubke]

Wrong hammer tip?

Bingo.

That's never happened to me before and I'm surprised by the degree to which it affects the tone.

I spent a little time considering the hammer - was the tip not positioned correctly and possibly missing the strike line? was the hammer not secured to the action rail and losing its momentum? The square tip looks identical to its neighbors and it wasn't until I swapped hammers that I noticed the hardness was different.

[Tim W]

Well, it sounds like the bum note was a C above middle C, and those are usually unpainted hard black tips, so if it is a square tip piano that is easy not to notice visually as compared to the unpainted soft tips for the bass end.

Now you know the next time you hear it!

Every time I work on a Rhodes, I learn something new.  And often these compiled tricks and lessons bail me out of stinker problems I encounter as I continue to work on more pianos.

[rhodesjuzz]

I thought the hammertip was too easy, bit like Tim says: with square tips it's harder to identify

[David Aubke]

It's this one

[rhodesjuzz]

At first I was paying more attention to the damper felts which reminded me to the previous thread by worlddrum. I wouldn't be suprised when those had to be installed upright just like on this picture

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=9236.msg50401#msg50401

Thanks for sharing...