Rhodes Bass repair

[Jtrunzo7743]

Hi guys!

Refurbishing a Rhodes Piano Bass for the first time. I have experience refurbishing some rhodes and Wurlitzer's but wondering if theres anything I need to know for the bass.

First: Damper felts and Grommets/screws, do they just follow the same as a typical Rhodes? I need to replace all of them on this particular one, its pretty beat.

Cleaning pickups, these things are a bit corroded, but they do all work. How do you typically clean these?

Thanks

[David Aubke]

Cleaning pickups, these things are a bit corroded, but they do all work. How do you typically clean these?

I cut all of the bus wires, desolder the terminals and pull off the old tape. I scrape off the soldering flux that's always splattered on the bobbin, blow it off with compressed air and apply new tape.

But I don't recommend that. It's unnecessary and risks damaging the pickup at every step.

To clean the magnetic slug, I use a Dremel with a brass wire wheel. Quickly makes rusty slugs shiny. I've tried other buffing-type attachments but nothing comes close to the wire wheel. The problem is, the wheels are fragile. They shed wires very easily and you have to be careful to get through an entire set of pickups with a single wheel.

After cleaning the slugs, I drop some Boeshield on them to forestall future rusting.

[Jtrunzo7743]

Awesome! Thanks thats very helpful. You have any clue what size damper felts this thing needs or does it matter?

[David Aubke]

You have any clue what size damper felts this thing needs or does it matter?

Sorry, I have no first-hand experience with Piano Basses. To my knowledge, they're nothing more than the low end of a standard Seventy Three so I'd be reaching for my 1/2" x 1/2" x 3/8" felts. I don't think the exact size is too critical. Just... big.

[pianotuner steveo]

David is correct with the damper info.

[Jtrunzo7743]

I placed an order according to those specs, I'll post some before and after pics when it's all done!
Thanks guys