Rhodes Tuning

[GYMusic]

I'm the original owner of a 70's 73 suitcase. I have one note (2nd G# from the bottom) that doesn't seem to want to tune. When you first play it, it goes sharp... then flat. I've tried adjusting the height of the whole tuning bar. That doesn't seem to be realted to the pitch... only the timbre and volume. I already know how to make those adjustments. The tine is not broken, nor has it been struck hard. The only thing I see different than other notes is that the tuning spring wire is a little more stretched than the rest. Any clues?

TNX

[Mr Generic]

A couple of things come to mind-

Make sure the tuning spring is holding its place. Pull it off and compress the spring if necessary. Needle-nose pliers work for this, just compress the sides of the spring a bit, and slip it back on. Repeat until you get a good tight fit.

Check the position of the pickup. If it's off the tone will do strange things that sound like vibrato or tuning issues.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[GYMusic]

Thanks Generic for the reply.

It did turn out to be getting the height adjustment of the tone bar just right. Funny how that affects the stability of the tuning. I've enver messed with it, so I don't understand how that changed over time... Anyway... here's more info if you should ever need it.

http://www.fenderrhodes.org/rhodes/manual/ch4.html