[sdiy] OT: Rhodes pickup rewinding

[rkmoore at memphis.edu]

I can say that I move my Rhodes around a good bit, and I'm sure that
this doesn't help things.  I have repaired some of the coils that break
at the coil-end side.  That's a fairly easy matter.  When the coils
break on the coil-start end, things are much trickier.  I don't know if
the wire gauge is thinner than that of guitar pickups; if so, that would
be a reason.  Also, my piano is a Mark III EK-10; the model with an
active preamp and ARP synth voices.  It may have something to do with
the extra electronics, but that doesn't seem likely.  I think that it's
just a physical thing.  

Most of the original pickups are still good.  Of the 73 pickups I've
replaced 7 or 8.  Upon powering it up yesterday I found three new keys
not working.  This may be a tine position problem, but I think that
they're dead.  

Richard

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Parkhurst" <tim.parkhurst at gmail.com>
Date: Monday, March 6, 2006 12:48 pm
Subject: Re: [sdiy] OT: Rhodes pickup rewinding

> On 3/6/06, rkmoore at memphis.edu <rkmoore at memphis.edu> wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I have a Rhodes piano that I love dearly, but over time the pickups
> > slowly die.  I have purchased replacement coils out of cannibalized
> > pianos, and this has worked, but I would rather learn to rewind the
> > pickups (I want to keep this piano alive for decades to come).  Does
> > anyone know the wire gauge or number of turns?  42 seems like a 
> familiar> number, but I haven't found it well documented.  I  know 
> the impedance
> > should be between 170 and 190 ohms.
> >
> > THANKS,
> >
> > Richard
> >
> >
> 
> Sorry I can't offer any help, but I do have a question: the pickups
> eventually die? I've seen 30 and 40 year old guitars with their
> original pickups. Are the pickups in the Rhodes especially fragile?
> Are they subject to a lot of mechanical stress? Or do they perhaps get
> a whole lot of current run through them? Doesn't seem likely, but I
> could easily be wrong on this one. Can anyone shed some light on this?
> 
> Tim (in the dark again) Servo
> --
> "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
>