<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Answer was Re: Okay, what's yer guess?</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"/> <style>  </style> </head> <body> <div> <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; border-left: #000000 3px solid; padding-top: 5px"> <div>Oh, bravo. Well played. Whoop, whoop. Mark Schecter was tapping around the edges and Ken Gerler nailed it down! (I think I gave too many good clues, there.) Fascinating history. This is his first electronic piano (vacuum tubes). It also came in a three-legged home model, but this was designed for classroom music instruction. Ken describes the action very well (see below) except in this early model (1946-48) there is not the block of wood on the keystick that Ken describes, just a thin strip of felt for the "capstan".</div> <div> </div> <div><img hspace="0" src="cid:pre-piano-inside.jpg@39557.7878305208.684" align="baseline" border="0"/></div> <div> </div> <div><img hspace="0" src="cid:student piano.jpg@39557.7878305324.906" align="baseline" border="0"/> Alan Barnard Salem, MO ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "Ken & Pat Gerler" <kenneth.gerler@prodigy.net> </kenneth.gerler@prodigy.net>   To: mark@schecterpiano.com, "Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org> </pianotech@ptg.org>   Received: 4/18/2008 8:04:55 AM Subject: Re: Okay, what's yer guess? >Mark, >That is it! I have worked on several Fender-Rhodes but never had hammers >like that. Harold Rhodes said he had the "simplest" arrangement for >operation. It is basically a "spoon". The "whippen" end is the part of the >spoon you would put in your mouth. He affixed the flange to that end. A big >block of wood at the end of the key interacts with that (the spoon) end of >the assembly. And the "sound producing" or "tine" is a basic "tuning fork". >The damper is on a thin piece of metal and is pulled down from the tine and >the hammer rises from below the tine. As an 'electronics' technician you >would see these faster than a piano technician. >Alan, google Fender-Rhodes and see who currently is supplying parts for >them. The later models had little rubber tips that were glued into a "U" >shape in the wood block at the end of the hammer shank. >Ken Gerler >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Mark Schecter" <schecter@pacbell.net> </schecter@pacbell.net>   >To: <pianotuner@embarqmail.com> </pianotuner@embarqmail.com>  ; "Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org> </pianotech@ptg.org>   >Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 1:49 AM >Subject: Re: Okay, what's yer guess? >> Could they be early Fender Rhodes? >> >> -Mark >> >>> ------- Original Message ------- >>> From: "Alan Barnard" <pianotuner@embarqmail.com> </pianotuner@embarqmail.com>   >>> To: pianotech@ptg.org >>> Sent: 04/17/08, 09:00:20 PM >>> Subject: Re: Okay, what's yer guess? >>> >>> Not without posting it somewhere else, which I don't know how to do. >>> >>> I don't think it would help, really. There are no parts or details that >>> don't show pretty plainly here. The whippen/butts (little S&M there) are >>> 1/4" thick and smooth sided, no features except holes for the flange pins >>> (no raised bird-eyes) and the hammer shanks (3/16" in diameter), and the >>> "bridle straps" which pass between the W/Bs (see S&M, above) and the >>> flanges and are glued to the curved back of said W/Bs. You can see the >>> weird little hammer moldings and the small, oddly-shaped hammers. >>> >>> Here are more little hints: The maker of these and similar instruments >>> (many later models still around and in use) is actually quite famous and >>> spent a great deal of time in hospitals. Tease, tease. Later models have >>> hammers that are even less piano-like. >>> >>> I say, again, . >>> >>> Alan Barnard >>> Salem, MO >>> >>> >>> >>> Original message >>> From: "Barbara Richmond" >>> To: pianotuner@embarqmail.com, "Pianotech List" >>> Received: 4/17/2008 10:35:07 PM >>> Subject: Re: Okay, what's yer guess? >>> >>> >>> Could we have a bigger picture for a better look? >>> >>> br >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: Alan Barnard >>> To: pianotech@ptg.org >>> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 9:53 PM >>> Subject: Okay, what's yer guess? >>> >>> Heads are 3/4" at their widest, 3/8" thick, round (no egg shape) at the >>> crown. Notice the little bit of bridle strap material sticking out from >>> the flange at the picture top? These tapes are connected to the dampers. >>> (Yes they are, don't argue with me!) The whippen is the hammer butt and >>> vice versa, no jacks, no escapement, one solid piece of wood. Key sticks >>> are full-sized (well, like a spinet) conventional designed, three-rails, >>> pins, felts, etc., but the "capstans" are just pieces of felt glued to >>> the top rear of the key sticks. Key and hammer travel are conventional >>> distances. >>> >>> Further hints: This is a 20th century instrument, not something from >>> Mozart's day! Not a celeste, not a dulcimer, not a Nickelodeon or >>> anything similar, not exactly a piano, either--though it is called a >>> piano, has a sustain pedal. Not tuned in any conventional way, either. >>> >>> Fun one, eh? Anyone seen 'em? Bet Jack Wyatt knows ... >>> >>> Alan Barnard >>> Salem, MO >>> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>