Rhodes Mk I 1975 i want to buy

[mugen441]

Hello with everyone! im new to this forum and have a dilema with a piano i want to buy, i live in Ecuador and here this keyboards are really hard to find, i tried this mk i from 1975 and really liked it but found some issues, like rusty tines and pickups and some noises in some keys,  the price for the piano is 950 usd , and i dont know if it is worth it,  in this video i play a couple of the noisy keys, any advice will be highly apreciated
cheers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-FHQDG-Z-0&feature=youtu.be

[mugen441]

the exact date of production of this piano i want to buy is 29 75, are this pianos good? read in some thread to stay away from any rhodes that was produced before the 32nd week of 1975 and would like to know more about it,
another matter that troubles me is the keys are made of wood, and ive been told wood is not that durable and the replacements are imposible to get, any advice would be amazing
cheers

[mugen441]

one thing more, the knobs have the fender logo ( the F ) even tough its not a fender rhodes but a rhodes, would love to share some media but the piano is really far from where i live, i got a couple of pics and a little recording that i am going to upload

[Tim Hodges]

The noise you can hear is the damper felt not properly dampening the tine. It's an easy fix, you just need to bend the damper up slightly to stop it from "kissing" it.

As for staying away from pianos before that, completely ignore it. The earlier Rhodes are more favoured and 1975 is a good year (1972 - 1975 are my favourite), this was the time when they dropped the name Fender for marketing purposes (to allow stockists to sell the piano where they didn't have an agreement to sell Fender products.)

Quite the opposite, wood is the preferred key material. Much later Rhodes for a while used plastic for the keys and they are to be avoided as they make more unwanted acoustic sound and a prone to breaking, they are the ones which are difficult to replace.

All Mark 1 pianos had the F on the knobs as they were still being made with Fender parts so that is perfectly normal.

As for the price it sounds reasonable to me, especially due to your location.

Tim

[mugen441]

Thank you very much for your advice! it helps me clarifiying a lot, probably getting the piano today , really exited to have it on my hands
In my experience the wooden keys feels a lot better than the plastic ones i tried from a rhodes mk II from 1978 of a friend of mine
One of the things that worries me, is that the piano was exposed to some moisture through the years,  and as i stated before it has some rust in the tines and pickups, the tone bars are not that affected, and has some white mold  beneath the tines and on some parts. The keys looked allright with no mildrew or alike
Another question that i think is important, what are the parts that ¨can not¨be replaced on a rhodes piano? anywhere i should look for any defect?
Will probably post for help when i get the piano

Cheers!

[David Aubke]

A little rust on the tines is probably not going to be a problem. If the rust has progressed to where the tines are visibly pitted, it may not be too long before they begin to break.

I'd clean off the pickups but I wouldn't worry about the rust.

The white powder on the tone bars is zinc plating that has corroded. Unless you're having the bars replated or are very concerned about aesthetics, it's best to leave that powder alone as it still provides some protection to the metal.

I can't think of any parts from a 1975 that would be hard to find or are irreplaceable.

[Tim Hodges]

One of the things that worries me, is that the piano was exposed to some moisture through the years,  and as i stated before it has some rust in the tines and pickups, the tone bars are not that affected, and has some white mold  beneath the tines and on some parts.

Depends on the level of rust on the tines, hopefully it wasn't exposed too much. Usually you get some oxidation on the tines and it can be cleaned off with fine sandpaper, if you can rub down one of the tines and if there is pitting on the tine then you'll have problems. More often than not it is just light superficial oxidation.

I borrowed this image off Tehu, this shows a tine with pitting and this is one to avoid:



Rust like this however is fine and can be easily cleaned:

The keys looked allright with no mildrew or alike.

That's good news, if you're able to take a screwdriver and remove the name rail (2 screws each side) see if you can lift up a key and it should drop by itself. It's just an easy test to see if the keys need easing or  if the wood has swollen, the latter would be a problem.

Another question that i think is important, what are the parts that ¨can not¨be replaced on a rhodes piano? anywhere i should look for any defect?
Will probably post for help when i get the piano

Pretty much everything on that piano can be replaced, tines, pickups, grommets, stage preamp, tolex, hardware etc. Wooden keys are not easily interchangeable with others from another piano as they were made for that keybed, that's not to say they can't be fixed but it's not worth going in to just yet!

Remember any of the above if it isn't serious can help you to bring down the price.

[mugen441]

Awesome! yeah it looks like the second picture with the rusty tines and pickups, in fact the tines are a little less rusty and the pick ups a little more..no that bad..
and the white stuff looks exactly the same, when i went to try it the second time i lifted the harp and removed the name rail and all the keys fell by their weight if is that what you meant by ¨see if you can lift up a key and it should drop by itself.¨, the action was amazing.. i kinda fell in love with it, same with the sound even tough i tried it in a little old peavey amp..
thanks for your replies!!

[Tim Hodges]

Sounds like it's ok to me.

[mugen441]

got the piano! its a beaty, but it has a lot of problems, since it has not being repaired and has all ( or almost all) of its original parts, got to replace a couple of tines that are bad from rust and use (one even has something like a little perpendicular fissure) and the other bad tines have no sustain or strange tone.. want to buy some tines , what source is good? all the tines are original i think and i dont know how will fit with the others, will post some pics tomorrow, cheers!

[e-soul91]

got the piano! its a beaty, but it has a lot of problems, since it has not being repaired and has all ( or almost all) of its original parts, got to replace a couple of tines that are bad from rust and use (one even has something like a little perpendicular fissure) and the other bad tines have no sustain or strange tone.. want to buy some tines , what source is good? all the tines are original i think and i dont know how will fit with the others, will post some pics tomorrow, cheers!

Mate, simply buy some tines from Vintage Vibe and you'll be OK. I don't work for them, nor am I in any way associated with them, but I think they are best Rhodes parts supplier there is. We in Europe have some good suppliers too, but I think VV would be best for you.

[mugen441]

Hey! thanks for the tip,. allready got some tines from vintagevibe, had a little problem with the package because i only got one of the two six packs i ordered (and the tine cutter, yes i fell for it and i know i gave away 40 dollar) bu then they send me the other one no problem, havent cutted the tines, and im really afraid to do it , dont want to f**k up tines with bad cutting : S, my piano is allready sounding good, but i have to clean the rust from some tines and replace some other, hope to do it soon
cheers