Incapable of being helped on Fender Rhodes

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   This is bothering me enough that I feel the need to make a topic.  I suppose this is me having hope that some miracle will occur within this topic.  

I have a Fender Rhodes Seventy electric piano, it's quite the awesome instrument , as many of you probably know.  It has some issues with tuning, and quite a few dead keys.  I have talked to EVERY tech anywhere near me, in the state and many neighboring states.  I have talked to at least twenty people, and I keep getting redirected only to be failed again.  Everybody seems to be pointing me towards the same two big technicians.  And these two have both given me the same answer....they worked on them around thirty years ago, and have no interest in ever doing it again.  I've talked to them for long periods of time, and can get no help.

The logical thing to do is contact Fender, but that seems to be pointless, as I can no longer find any corrolation between Fender and the Fender Rhodes other than the name.  The official Fender Websites and historys seem to make ZERO acknowledgement of it ever existing.  Which is surprising for such a popular instrument.  I'm out of moves here, and I have no idea what to do,  I guess i'm doomed to owning a vintage item just for the sake of being looked at.  It was my father's who has passed away, and I'm very interested in the instrument, so I'm REALLY trying not to have to give up, but it looks like there is nothing I can do.

Edited by himtroy - March 05 2009 at 19:46

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himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Topic: Incapable of being helped on Fender Rhodes Posted: March 05 2009 at 19:46
	This is bothering me enough that I feel the need to make a topic. I suppose this is me having hope that some miracle will occur within this topic. I have a Fender Rhodes Seventy electric piano, it's quite the awesome instrument , as many of you probably know. It has some issues with tuning, and quite a few dead keys. I have talked to EVERY tech anywhere near me, in the state and many neighboring states. I have talked to at least twenty people, and I keep getting redirected only to be failed again. Everybody seems to be pointing me towards the same two big technicians. And these two have both given me the same answer....they worked on them around thirty years ago, and have no interest in ever doing it again. I've talked to them for long periods of time, and can get no help. The logical thing to do is contact Fender, but that seems to be pointless, as I can no longer find any corrolation between Fender and the Fender Rhodes other than the name. The official Fender Websites and historys seem to make ZERO acknowledgement of it ever existing. Which is surprising for such a popular instrument. I'm out of moves here, and I have no idea what to do, I guess i'm doomed to owning a vintage item just for the sake of being looked at. It was my father's who has passed away, and I'm very interested in the instrument, so I'm REALLY trying not to have to give up, but it looks like there is nothing I can do. Edited by himtroy - March 05 2009 at 19:46

cobb2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: November 25 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 415	Posted: March 05 2009 at 19:58
	A quick google search returned this site: http://www.vintagevibe.com/

himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: March 05 2009 at 20:04
	Would be nice, but it's in NYC. I'd have to get it there, pay 95$ an hour, and get it back to here. Thanks though man, but any further reccomendations from anybody would still be nice.

Petrovsk Mizinski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: December 24 2007 Location: Ukraine Status: Offline Points: 25210	Posted: March 05 2009 at 20:14
	Did you post this up on other forum boards? Usually, if I have a guitar related problem, my first port of call is always a guitar specific forum before a place like PA. Tried any piano forums? (I assume they exist, heh). You'll get much better luck at those than a forum which isn't a dedicated musician/piano forum such as this.


himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: March 05 2009 at 20:16
	I've posted on The Fender Rhodes website. It seems to be relatively inactive. I've also posted on numerous keyboard sites. More good knews, the screws holding something in place that I need to take off to see the underside of something are completely torn apart, and no screw driver can even catch on. Outlook=bleek

npjnpj Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: December 05 2007 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 2720	Posted: March 06 2009 at 02:50
	Wow, just hang on to it and hope, a Fender Rhodes is a dream. Good luck with your search. As a matter of fact there's someone here in Gernany who could fix it, but as NY is a no-no, I guess this is of no help If you send it over, I'll have it fixed for you, but then again you'd never see it again.

Trademark Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: November 21 2006 Location: oHIo Status: Offline Points: 1009	Posted: March 06 2009 at 12:58
	Getting the damaged screws out should be no problem for a tech with the right tools. there are all sorts of "screw extraction tools available and they are used by repair techs invirtually all firelds. I have a nice set I use for guitar repair to remove the cheeeeap chinese and Korean screws on many budget instruments I find myself asked to work on. I've worked on a few Rhodes pianos over the years and they are a total bitch (I haven't touched one since the mid 80s). I'm not surprised you'd have trouble finding someone willing to spend the time (and lots of your money). The dead key problem is most often associated with the little spring steel "tynes" that make contact and cause the note to sound when a key is depressed (not sad ). If the contact is just dirty they can be cleaned with very fine (800G) sandpaper. If they are bent out of contact, (the more likely problem) they are VERY touchy to adjust and need to be tweaked over and over again to get good action. The problem is that they are (now) 40-50 year old pieces of spring steel which will become less flexible over time and adjusting them often results in breaking them and finding replacements becomes ever more difficult as time goes by. The offshoot of this is if you do not do the work yourself the hourly rate will eat you alive because to the many, many hours of adjustment needed to get the thing in playing order. On the other hand, if its just going to be a coffee table, what have you got to lose in making the attempt?

himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: March 06 2009 at 13:43
	Yeah, I found a website where I can order the parts, and it explains how to fix most of the problems. I'm just going to put some time into it. The out of tune notes where actually pretty easy to fix.

Trademark Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: November 21 2006 Location: oHIo Status: Offline Points: 1009	Posted: March 06 2009 at 14:17
	Good for you!! It really isn't the difficulty that is the main issue. The Rhodes is a pretty simple machine and most of it is mechanical. What gets in the way is the time involved. At an average minimum of $50/hr for bench technicians a Rhodes job like yours could easily run $300-$400 just for the labor alone. This way you'll get to have some of the fun ( and frustration) in addition to saving big coin. When you're done with this one you'll be ready to tear down a B-3 tone wheel generator for your next project.

himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: March 25 2009 at 14:56
	I was on Craigslist and somebody wanted a Fender Rhodes trade for a Wurlitzer 200A. I jumped on that, so hopefully thats happening.

jammun Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: July 14 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3449	Posted: March 25 2009 at 18:25
	I have an old Stage 73 somewhere down in the basement. It is pretty easy to tune, but you'd probably need to find a chromatic tuner. I used to tweak mine all the time when replacing tines. Mine has one broken tine now. There are a number of web sites that sell tines, but they are expensive. I've seen them at $25-$40 a pop, depending on the length.

himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: March 26 2009 at 16:46
	Yeah, I've found all the parts online. But I'm not even going to order them now since I'm trading it in for the Wurlitzer. I've always like Wurlitzers more anyway

jammun Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: July 14 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3449	Posted: March 26 2009 at 20:51
	I know, I should put mine up for sale on Craigs. Don't play it any longer. Or put it up on eBay. Buyer pays shipping! That sucker weighs a ton.

himtroy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1601	Posted: March 27 2009 at 14:12
	Yeah. I'm so glad the guy I'm getting it off of is close to me. It's an hour or so drive, but it's by far worth it.