I recently met a local gentleman who turned out to be a keyboardist with a fondness for instruments from his younger days. Among the items that remain in his collection is this 1977 Seventy Three that he purchased new. After playing the piano for a few years, other priorities left the Rhodes in storage where it remained until now.

As a result of its relatively short service life, this piano is in mint condition. The outer cabinet shows some age but internally, it’s as though it just left the factory. I’m fairly certain I’m the first person ever to have lifted its harp.

It even includes the original leg bag and spare tines.

Some very irregular key heights in the upper register.

The culprits were a dime and two arcade tokens.

The front guide pin for the highest A is missing.

Found it

Reinstalling the guide pin

I noticed that the keys were bumping against the name rail felt, potentially preventing them from returning to their proper resting position. Someone tried to alleviate this condition with the addition of some stick-on felt.

After mulling the options, I decided to employ the same strategy, but perhaps in a bit more intentional way. If you look closely, you can see the impressions left by the white keys on the name rail felt.

Most of the tonebar grommets look OK, though some are blown out. Regardless, usually grommets of this age have hardened and are best replaced.

Installing new screws, washers, and grommets.

All installed

I couldn’t get F4 to ring as it should.

So I replaced it with one of the spares that came with the piano.

These flat key pedestals will be well served by the addition of Miracle Mod bumps.

Pianos of this era had felt installed on the hammer cams rather than the key pedestals. This needs to be removed.

Striking the guideline.

Setting the bumps.

Gluing the pedestal felts.

Hammer at rest.

Hammer at stop-lock.

For some reason, these two sets of bushings were mangled. I found the felt remnants at the bottoms of the mortises.

Gluing in new bushings.

Installed.

One key was chipped.

Applying AcrilyKey filler

First try.

Second try.

One of the front legs was kicked out at a crazy angle

The leg flange boss was separating from the flange.

I don’t have the equipment or skills necessary to repair a leg flange so this was replaced with one from my inventory that most closely matched the existing patina.

The Tolex had come loose in a few places.

Taken care of with a little contact cement.

The pedal was very loose in the base. I think the screws had been loosened on purpose because, when I tightened them down, the pedal became very hard to move.

I added a little relief to the axle retainer plate.

A dab of white lithium grease and a couple of balance rail felts later, and the pedal is moving smoothly and quietly.

The Tone control only worked in the upper third of its range. For any lower position, it was effectively at Zero.

Installing a new potentiometer.

Full range restored.