Rhodes Mk1 73 Stage Piano

This unit was suffering from multiple dead keys, and things had been getting progressively worse. There were other mechanical issues, and once they were resolved the electrically dead notes could be focused on. By tapping the coils center pole 12 pickups were found to be dead, and on removing one it could be seen that the inner end of the winding had rusted through where it meets the pin. There is not enough wire left exposed for me to attach a bridge wire to, so the coil was deemed beyond repair.  As I researched the Rhodes Mk 1 Stage 73 I found out just how big a problem that rust on the coils was, and that most used parts on Ebay etc are remnants of machines  scrapped due to this problem, with statements in the ads like “rust cleaned off”. Continue reading →