wooden hammers though it has been a long time since I looked inside, another synth on top so tis a bit tricky to open up and confirm that

like this one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rhodes_Mark_I_73_Stage_Pia no_pic_3.jpg

I'll have a listen to your sound example, and post one. a bit later.

ah that one is the revised model with either partial or full plastic hammers.

mine says "Fender Rhodes" not "Rhodes".



it's stamped 1971 inside, initialed too. it has the initial from the dyno-my-piano tech and the guy at the rhodes factory.

the dyno eq is a totally different beast

I like the raw too

hope this clip isn't too quiet, it has prophet 08 low in the background

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9504745/rhodes%20clip.mp3

your tines sound a lot fresher, although it might just be the hammer tips too. all the parts on mine are worn to crap

the basic timbre sounds identical though.

tis years since I looked inside, had the idea I might 'adjust' everything, but the munted condition kind of put me off...thought for sure I would break stuff. All the keyes make some kind of sound, good enough in tune, so that will do me.I have had mine about 14 years. The guy that sold it too me was a VERY heavy handed player, who gigged in a jazz band. Wonder it is still going.

Program material and playing style make for big differences in sounds, and I guess what kind of effects to use.

tuning is easy. the hard part is timbre, volume and dynamics adjustment.

you need to tune regularly, especially after moving the piano. if it's ever allowed to sit in a vertical position on the front or back it'll definitely throw it out of tune.

they're very difficult to break. all you've got there is a series of windings connected by wire which goes into the volume/tone pots. the two screws where the tine mounts allow you to adjust the height and angle. each pickup can be moved forward and back to adjust level.

i'm not sure if they fixed it in your model, but in mine tines near the braces tend to come into contact after moving the piano and so get muted. that can be partially cured by lowering the tine and adjusting for it by angle so things aren't as close together.

after a basic tune-up adjusting volume, timbre and tuning it sounds a lot better. it makes a huge difference.

usually you'll find that everything just needs to be tightened up a little bit because of coming loose over the years. if it isn't moved around you won't need to make adjustments for quite a long time but if it is you should consider doing it regularly.

there is a lot of information online - you just have to remember that most of the youtube videos and so on are made by amateurs. if you do a lot of research and try to sum together all the information available you'll start to get a clear idea of how to do everything.

worst thing is when you get a "dead" tine. it'll lose sustain and/or start to sound damped. unfortunately you can only replace it then.

the other thing that regularly happens is the damper felts will get compressed and stop damping the key correctly. you can remove the screws on the edges of the harp and it actually lifts and tilts to move it out of the way and give you access to the action.

getting the dampers to work right requires some fine-tuning both of the tips and the metal strips they're attached to. see a video for how to do that. that's the biggest difference i think you could make quickly - it's possible your piano works fine already but if it hasn't been tuned it's most likely that some of the dampers aren't working and you're getting longer release times, a kind of buzzing fade-out rather than a nice quick killing of the notes.

(it should feel like you're playing a synthesizer. the notes should just end abruptly.)

thanks for the tips.
I do have some info bookmarks somewhere I could find again. Think I'll leave it till the imperfections can't be ignored any longer. A dead key would do it. I don't shift much, so that is something.

Thanks for the advice in effects and EQ, guys.


What I usually struggle with is when I try to pull off nice sounding chords. As a lead or solo it's not that difficult, to me at least, since it's a "thinner" sound and easier to sculpt.


However chords do give me the trouble I mentioned: if it sounds too "thin" I'll beef it up, but then, it will sound overdriven or maybe "muddy" as you pointed out.


I'll post some examples tonight when I get home.

I've forgotten the differences between the model numbers, but the early models had huge pickups. They sound awesome, but go out of tune faster because the tine is pulled ny the pickup. The early tines also sucked...they had poor sustain and broke all the time. Dyno went through those and replaced 'em with new tines. The reason your Dyno sounds great raw is because it has at least 5-10 hours of additional tweaking work done on it by a real master. I never put any electronics on my Stage 88, just 100 hours of work. We would first relocate the harp - horizontally and vertically using shims - to find each piano's sweet spot where the tines were being struck according to their speaking length. Then all manner of voicing to get rid of buzzing and knocking, getting the pickup positioned exactly right to get a balance of fundamental and overtone, adjusting the keys and damper assemblies, pedal, everything. Do you know what year yours was in the shop?

Are those initials CM? KG? DL? Or most likely, JP?

not sure, i'd have to open it and find the signatures.

i doubt it's anything to do with a master working on it, because when i got this piano it was in crap condition. that 'master' would've been me.

the first thing i'd do if i wanted to spend a lot of cash would be replace the tines, although the hammer tips and mute felts would be next, followed by some of the basic mods to the action - for example the bump/stop to prevent the keys from wobbling.

having 30+ years of wear on it since the dyno work, it's kind of in need of further maintenance (replacement, actually) at this point.

True that. But all Dyno pianos have superior harp positions as compared to stock instruments. We aways bolted the harps down tight after re-voicing them. The harp placement should still be perfect unless you've changed the hammer tips or tines. If you do a tine replacement, the harp needs to be repositioned, because the speaking length of the new tines is shorter. If you have an older piano with all square rubber tips, the tip replacement will completely destroy the harp positioning in a big way. To fix the wobbling, remove the key and turn the metal pin, which is oval in cross-section, with a small wrench (or pliers) to effectively "widen" it. If this doesn't do it, the felt within the key is too worn.

CM = Chuck Monte
KG = Ken Gray (played for Shiela Escovedo and Prince for a bit)
JP = James Page
DL = yours truly

There was another guy who worked at the Folsom Street shop before I arrived in 1980, but I can't remember his name. If the initials aren't any of these then the piano was prolly not worked on at the main shop, but at one of the places Chuck did training seminars at.

no i mean the resonance / wobble when you actually play a key. it doesn't immediately stop because of the crappy rhodes action. it doesn't have a stop / back-check as a proper action would. so you hit the key and it goes wobble wobble wobble wobble when you let it go.

http://www.vintagevibe.com/p-615-back-check-kit.aspx

the "miracle mod" just gluing on little plastic 'bumps' looks awesome too. it just takes an awful lot of effort.

i don't think the friction from the pin would provide enough damping - actually i think it's already been tuned that way although i'd have to check. the only really reliable solution seems to be installing a proper back-stop for each hammer. the characteristic wobbling wooden "clonckbonkonk" key sound from the rhodes drives me nuts.

Ah, right, the trick I described controls the side-to-side movement of the keys.

It does sound to me like you need to trade in for a post 1975 "Rhodes" model with the lighter action. The newer action with plastic hammers still bounce a bit, but don't tend to cause as much trouble as the older ones for some reason (of which I'm not sure). Perhaps it was a problem with the more massive wood hammers. With the newer pianos (post '75) just by replacing the modular damper assemblies and adjusting them you can eliminate most of the troubles except the occasional double-strikes, which some people use to advantage (there are quite a few examples of George Duke solos where the double-strike is heard and gives a wonderful, funky effect).

I use Mr.Ray 73 mk II.

It seems the problem might be with my use of multiband compression as when the piano sounds dry, it sounds really nice and clean. It starts to get rough with compression applied. However, as I always use low velocity, because I try to make the sound smooth, it tends to get buried in the mix.


Now, my samples:






1- First e-piano set. Dry.

2- First e-piano set. Chorus, compression, filter applied.

3- Second e-piano set. Dry.

4- Second e-piano set. Chorus, compression, filter applied.

5- Second e-piano set. Dry. Lower register.

6- Second e-piano set. Chorus, compression, filter applied. Lower register.

7- The last two chords are my latest attempt at getting a smooth, yet present e-piano and the one I like the most!