Any Fender Rhodes players here with experience setting one up?

lukedlb

The forum dedicated to the Rhodes and Wurlitzer is not as dynamic as tFB. I’m restoring a 1979 73 mk1 Rhodes and need a little support and encouragement to making a significant adjustment in its setup. Plus it’s always nice to have company. Anyone here have one?

Dodge

I can't help on the support front, but wish you luck with the restoration.  The Rhodes is one of the finest (maybe the finest) keyboard sounds in history.

I'd love one, but over the last few years prices have doubled.

lukedlb

Dodge said:

I can't help on the support front, but wish you luck with the restoration.  The Rhodes is one of the finest (maybe the finest) keyboard sounds in history.

I'd love one, but over the last few years prices have doubled.

I fell in love with the sound in the last few years but every attempt at playing one was a horror show: bad action, wobbly keys, all the common defects. Then I played a suitcase in a cramp condition stuffed up against a window and even though the action was terrible, everything sounded incredible, any key pressed randomly harmonised with the others to offer an incredible timbre. Then I deep jumped into the classic rhodes sounds of the 70s and rediscovered my youth listening to Brian Jackson without ever having given him the credit for his songwriting with Gil Scott-Heron. Every time one came up used for sale, it was bought immediately. I had almost given up when I got first in. I met the seller at a MacDonald's and took it home at a hefty price tag. The owner had got it for his son who couldn't get his head round it and asked for a synth instead. I understand why: it was full of dust, had never been opened and needed a good clean and set-up. Without any experience at all with keys, I took it apart, cleaned it up to an almost new condition. After changing all the grommets and screws and setting the key level, it sounded much better. Yet there's still more to go.
I've more or less got my head around the mechanism. It all has to come together. Even tuning each note, 73 of them, takes patience; my first experience with stretched tuning went well. After two hours, I think I could do the next one in 30 minutes.
Not to mention there are 73 pickups in there, each adjustable for volume.
Then there's the tine for each key which can be adjusted up and down in relation to the pickup to voice the fundamental or harmonic.
It's incredible.
The Rhodes Mk8 has just come out at an 8 to 9 grand price. It sounds incredible, eliminates all the 'issues', weighs less, and is reliable. If I had the cash, I would. I could always sell my guitars and amps, right. But then that would be the end of me here...

Winny_Pooh

Used to have a MK ii. IIRC some Mk I's benefited from the keybed mod, you add a bump at a strategic point and it makes the action easier. 

lukedlb

Winny_Pooh said:

Used to have a MK ii. IIRC some Mk I's benefited from the keybed mod, you add a bump at a strategic point and it makes the action easier. 

Yes, the bump mod on the inner end of each key helps lift the hammers improving the playability and fortunately was already incorporated on my 1979 model as factory spec from 78 onwards. 

Wazmeister

Luke sounds like an exciting project. Keep us posted, and bang some photos up.

(Hope all is well mate)

lukedlb

Wazmeister said:

Luke sounds like an exciting project. Keep us posted, and bang some photos up.

(Hope all is well mate)

Your wish is my command, sir:

(as well as could be)

lukedlb

https://imgur.com/gallery/Kqrdp49

lukedlb

If anyone can tell me how to show each photo from imgur directly here, instead of the gallery link, please let me know.

lukedlb

And I set the key dip and key level correctly today. It was all down to screwing down other elements properly. It turns out this instrument was expertly made; just put together poorly. Add 42 years of playing a wear and tear e voila! Actually, the fact that it was put together poorly probably meant that it wasn't ever played much; most owners would have instantly been turned off. Judging by the amount of dust and metal filings from the drilled holes still present inside meant that at no point had anyone ever opened it up and tried to set it up correctly. This could mean that some keys get hit harder but i think in this case, owners abandoned it and went to another keyboard, much as the last owner had.

Ché

I have a Mk I Suitcase here at the studio. Give Doug at Klassic Keys a message, i'm sure he'll be able to help. He restores them in his garage and sells them on, lovely bloke too. 

Wazmeister

lukedlb

lukedlb

Thanks @Wazmeister ;;
It was easier than I thought.

GoFish

Not much to say except that you're doing an amazing and useful job. You should be proud of yourself.

ElectricXII

Wow, that's some work you've done there. It makes working on guitars look like a piece of piss in comparison. I'd love to hear it when it's finally working as it should. Sorry I can't give you any advice on setting it up.

lukedlb

GoFish said:

Not much to say except that you're doing an amazing and useful job. You should be proud of yourself.

ElectricXII said:

Wow, that's some work you've done there. It makes working on guitars look like a piece of piss in comparison. I'd love to hear it when it's finally working as it should. Sorry I can't give you any advice on setting it up.

Thank you, GoFish and ElectricXII. Encouragement is just as important as advice. Pride comes when it's all done; for the moment it's the absence of shame that is encouraging me to continue. When I first got it home and it sounded VERY little as to how I expected, I castigated myself for another purchase on gear I know nothing about. To be fair I bought it from a guitarist who also knew very little except that his son didn't like it. I don't even know how a great Rhodes should feel. Yes, we know how they sound on recordings but achieving that sound meant going through some great studio equipment, not to mention the skill of the pianist in the first place. However, the longer I play it, the longer I run up and down the chromatic scale and play full chords across the board, I'm beginning to understand what to expect.
Setting up a Rhodes takes time as there's so much to set up. The more you do it, the quicker it gets. Setting up a guitar takes time as the neck needs time to settle into its new position. Although the manual is very clear on how to properly set up a Rhodes, much is presumed too.
Fortunately, apart from the wonky hammer on the top E, all the parts are in good condition. More importantly, the parts that require woodwork or electronic skills are in working order... so far.
If my luck holds out, I will buy a pre amp next week specific to a Rhodes, which should help define the EQ and dyno-tremolo. The amp is just as important with a Rhodes as with a guitar. The combo I'm using chokes on those bass notes, whereas they're defined through my leslie or on headphones. In fact, my intention is to go from a preamp into a mixer and into headphones. One less piece of furniture in the living room will please the good lady of the house. Fingers crossed that the preamp sounds as good as I hope.
I'll get a recording up as soon as I'm able to play something half decent. There's still much work to do.

joeW

This is awesome to see. History being restored and they really have a sound like nothing else. 

lukedlb

Work that isn't obvious in the photos:
vinegar treatment and light sanding and polishing on all metal external parts of the case
a full clean on the tolex and the ABS plastic cover with dashboard polish

and two mistakes: all the metal has been plated(?) for rust prevention and must not be cleaned. One of the gold tuning forks is now less gold than the others, and a corner of the aluminium damper unit is brighter than the rest in my effort to clean and remove rust. Wire wool does the trick fine.