Fender Rhodes Restoration

[jgs61]

Has anyone ever restored a Fender Rhodes? I love these and have always wanted one. Someone is selling a Mark I 73 locally that is in need of restoration. He seems like he just wants to get rid of it and will sell it for peanuts. I'm going to go by there later and take a look at it. I honestly don't know shit about these things. I guess I figure if the price is right, I could slowly restore it and get some use out of it. How difficult are they to work on? I mean, are some of the parts ridiculously rare and expensive?

[the older brother]

IIRC there's a ebay seller that sells rhodes parts. One of the sellers that also keeps JM/Jag parts in stock. I don't know if he parts out old broken Rhodes or if its's new parts.

[jgs61]

You're right! I just found him. He seems to have a lot of stuff. Thanks!

I think I've read somewhere that they're pretty simple instruments... at least Herbie Hancock though so. Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought.

[the older brother]

I'm not an expert, but they have like a single pole pickup at each key (or close to anyway). Some wire length in there if you're thinking of a complete rewind....



Edit: I just remembered the guts of my old (since long gone) Rhodes - the key is attached to a hammer that knocks onto a metal bar (tunes to right note) that starts to vibrate and the pickup takes up the signal. Ther metal bar is adjustable for tone/volume with some screws IIRC.

[jgs61]

I got it and brought it home a little while ago. It cost me $20.

Most of the keys actually work pretty well. Some just need minor adjustments. Only a few don't work at all. It has the lid to the case, but no legs. The guy went over the inside with me and showed me how everything worked. It really seems pretty simple. It'll take some research on my part, but I think I can restore this thing. It's got a lot of wear, but for the most part is in decent condition. It sounds pretty good too... although, not as good as what I'm used to hearing on recordings. I'll have to learn how to fine tune it for tone and volume, like you said. I won't be able to get started on it immediately, but it'll be nice to slowly work on from time to time. Luckily, it's got enough playability as it is to keep me satisfied with it for now.

[Jonesie]

I kinda miss mine. It sounded awesome but played terribly.

My only word of advice really is wherever you see the red felt on the keys, go to the hardware store and get a can of elmers slide-all spray. It's a lubricant that'll soak in there. It'll let the action be a bit more free on it. But Rhodes always play heavy, at least from my experience.

They're definitely interesting beasts, and like I said, I miss mine, but the matinence is a pain in the ass on those things.

[jgs61]

Thanks for the tip. I'll remember that once I get moving on this thing.

[glimmertwin]

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions. About a year ago I restored an early 70s suitcase rhodes with 20+ dead pickups(I repaired them myself) and several sticky keys. It was missing the amp bottom which I later found another with a broken power amp that I then fixed. As was mentioned earlier, they sound great but I still am not entirely happy with the action despite spending A LOT of time tweaking it and I don't think I'm ever going to be able to entirely get rid of the sluggishness of the keys. I had never worked on a rhodes before, but I read a lot of information from the website listed below and what wasn't on the site's wonderful tech section, was quickly answered by the helpful forum members there.

The only other thing I would warn you about up front is it can get expensive repairing these depending on what is wrong and how many replacement parts you need....for $20, you'll still likely come out ahead but I'm just saying.... For what it's worth, I got the top and the amp bottom separately for around $300 all together and put another couple of hundred bucks into it largely because I managed to fix most of the pickups but if they weren't salvageable, it would have cost me a few hundred more to buy new ones. All in all I have about $500 into mine which I think was a pretty sweet deal overall(the exterior is very clean actually despite all the little repairs under the hood) although it doesn't even begin to tell the story of how much time I spent reading about the construction of these and tips to get it to play better.

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck restoring yours!

[jgs61]

Thanks! I'll take you up on that once I get started. I've already started reading a little bit on that site and forum... it is pretty helpful. I don't think any of the pickups need work, but I could be wrong. Only about four keys flat out don't work, but it may not be the pickups. It'll definitely be a long process, but at least I'll learn a lot about it.

[BoringPostcards]

Yea, good luck with the restoration. Those tines can be a pain in the ass to get working correctly. You often have to snip them off to get it tuned properly. You gotta be careful, as not to cut them too short though. I had a Rhodes (non-fender) for a few years and loved it to pieces, especially when running it through various pedals. O, the fun you can have. The maintenance thing got to me and I ended up selling it to a friend. He's a sick jazz pianist and can give it far more proper use than I ever could.

here's a link to a place that sells the tines.
http://www.vintagevibe.com/c-16-rhodes-tines.aspx

in fact, these guys sell anything you need for a Rhodes.

[jgs61]

Cool. Thanks for the link!

[stewart]

strange, i've had mine for 12 years and the only thing that's gone wrong with it is a dead pickup. i've never had to do anything in the way of maintenance apart from sort that out. it's not like maintaining a 60s organ or anything.