Replacement hammer tips, new tine bar grommets, and key pedestal maintenance

A few weeks ago I replaced the hammer tips on my Rhodes Mark V. It was tedious work, but it was sooo worth it! The thing sounded brand new. Also, I have some replacement tone bar grommets but have been waiting to put them on because it is yet another tedious procedure. I’m not having sustain problems now, so I’m not sure how much of an improvement I should expect to see, if any. Lastly, looking head on at the Mark V, I noticed that all of the keys were not level on the keyboard. At the higher register I noticed that a few keys were higher than their neighbors. I was able to adjust the number of paper “washers” on the key pivot pin to correct this. All in all, the Rhodes looks and sounds fantastic!

I recently bought a Buddah Wah pedal from Mojo Tone, a wonderful company specializing in building custom tube amps and vintage tube amp restoration and repair. Luckily they had a good deal on the wah pedal, so I bought it from them. The Budda Wah seems to boost the signal even when it is “off”, and it really makes my Rhodes shine! I was suprised how much better the Rhodes sounds through this wah pedal even when it is off. Go figure! Of course, my vintage Ampeg J-12T tube amp has something to do with that.

Right on.

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