#1961343 - 06/22/08 10:25 AM
Hohner Electra Piano
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Monroe
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Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 13
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Anyone here ever work on restoring one of these? Picked one up (console model) at a farm out my way. About 3/4 of the scale works fine, but remainder sounds 'muted' depending upon velocity of hit. As well, in need of damping material for key action.
Will start at adjusting each assembly (to a degree), but interested in any/all advice.
The internal amp is also somewhat noisy, but I suspect a cap' switch and cleaning may help out a great deal on that.
much thanks for any and all advice on this . . .
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#1961434 - 06/22/08 03:57 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: yorgatron]
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Monroe
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Registered: 08/16/03
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Yes, it is the c. 70's console model. There is also a guide to operation circulating about. That guide answered a few of my questions re: circuitry and basic mechanics, but I really haven't found any folks that have restored one. Plenty of restoration technique suggestions re: Rhodes, Wurlis, Clavs etc, floating about, but not much at all about this one.
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#1961547 - 06/22/08 10:40 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Monroe]
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zxcvbnm098
Senior Member
Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 190
Loc: Southern Calif.
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Not sure where you're located (guessing UK?), but I heard those were incredibly rare outside of Germany. I don't believe they were ever imported here in the US at all, and I have heard from others that even in the UK they were rare. I'm sure that's why you won't find any info on restoration. But hey, it's the John Paul Jones piano! Crank it up loud and play "Misty Mountain Hop"!
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#1961797 - 06/23/08 11:45 AM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: zxcvbnm098]
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Monroe
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Ha! Misty Mountain Hop was (understandably) one of the first pieces that I pounded away on. Laughed like hell when I heard the notes come out of it. No effects, just straight through a K4 and the sound was 'it'.
In Canada. The pedigree of this is that it came through Toronto (I'm in Western Canada) via Heintzman; they apparently being the national distributors. The stage model is very rare, more so than the console, but again I've had some knowledgeable folks tell me they aren't aware of many of the console models about either. And all this from a $125 purchase at a farm (literally dusting off the straw from the cabinet).
Yes, I suspect some very measured activities in the near future with regard to the restoration. I'll try and see if there are parallels between the other electro-mechanical models (of which there is considerable info available) and this particular one. A player I am, but not anything near a tech when it comes to my instruments.
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#1963429 - 06/27/08 12:20 AM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Monroe]
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zxcvbnm098
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Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 190
Loc: Southern Calif.
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Monroe, can you post any pictures of it? And how in the hell did you find it in the first place? Sounds like a great story! And I gather the amp internal amp is not working?
Mike
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#1963776 - 06/27/08 05:20 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: zxcvbnm098]
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Monroe
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Can do. Just have to see what rules in place for posting pics to this forum.
I was looking for a cheap, used acoustic piano . . . any piano, cost was going to be 'the' factor. I live in a rural area at the edge of the Canadian prairie. Saw an ad in a farm newsletter that someone had a "piano for sale". That was it. So sure I'd buy that I dragged along my trailer. Showed up at their cattle ranch and they took me to this unit that they had set aside at the farm. Their daughter had moved away and did not want to take the piano with her, indicating that it wasn't as responsive as she would like. They asked me for a decent offer. At the time I recognized it simply as a used electric piano, not knowing the lineage of the actual model . . unaware of Electra Pianos. So, and taking a guess, I indicated that they could get a few hundred, perhaps even $500 bucks for it and I'd pay what they asked right now (kind of excited at finding any kind of ep out here). They balked at this and suggested $125 as it would only sit at their place getting no use, and were genuinely happy that someone would buy it and play it. So money exchanged hands, we shot the shit for a while about fiddle tournaments in the area, and I returned back home. . . happy with the purchase, but melancholic as to how it played out. That is, until I returned home and plugged it in.
I suspect this would have played out much differently if it was for sale in one of the metro areas.
Sounds good played through a Traynor K4 and (as of yesterday's purchase) a Motion Sound 200S.
As to the responsiveness concern, these Electra Pianos have a relatively heavy action. My P200 feels much easier to play when compared to the action on this thing. Amp works with a very slight, consistent noise (suspect caps?). A good portion of the keyboard works well, but the lower notes have issues related to a muting of notes (again, I'm hoping a setup/tune issue), and a general 'klank' from old damping material.
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#1963788 - 06/27/08 07:07 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Monroe]
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Sven Golly
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 11/12/03
Posts: 4470
Loc: Toronto, ON
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Can do. Just have to see what rules in place for posting pics to this forum.
There's no space to upload photos here, but you can use one of the many free image hosting sites on the net, and link them here using the {IMG} {/IMG} tags (use square braces, not {}).
Looking forward to seeing your new acquisition! 
_________________________
Without music life would be a mistake. ~Nietzsche
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#1963930 - 06/28/08 12:43 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Sven Golly]
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Monroe
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Registered: 08/16/03
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Hope this 'works' . . . another new skill for the day . . .
[image]http://www.flickr.com/photos/28057585@N05/sets/72157605863033820/[/image]
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#1963984 - 06/28/08 04:25 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Monroe]
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zxcvbnm098
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Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 190
Loc: Southern Calif.
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Wow, looks to be in pretty good shape considering. Looks like a Pianet with sustain and damper pedals. Cool! What a find!
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#1964099 - 06/29/08 09:22 AM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Monroe]
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Sparky2
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Registered: 02/24/08
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So freakin' cool! Congrats!
Mark
_________________________
Life is shorter than you think...make it count.
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#1964132 - 06/29/08 11:44 AM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Monroe]
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Sven Golly
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 11/12/03
Posts: 4470
Loc: Toronto, ON
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Hope this 'works' . . . another new skill for the day . . .
[image]http://www.flickr.com/photos/28057585@N05/sets/72157605863033820/[/image]
Close, but not quite. It's not "image", it's "img". Also, in this instance you're not linking directly to an image, but to a web page, so you need to use the "url" tag, like this:
{url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/28057585@N05/sets/72157605863033820/} My Hohner Electra Piano pictures on Flickr {/url}
That would appear like this, when you change the {} to []:
My Hohner Electra Piano pictures on Flickr
_________________________
Without music life would be a mistake. ~Nietzsche
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#1964194 - 06/29/08 03:59 PM
Re: Hohner Electra Piano
[Re: Sven Golly]
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Monroe
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Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 13
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Appreciate the lesson in formating. Tried to get an understanding of that in a brief amount of time but . . . . . thanks
As to the pdf, yeah, I ran across that early on and it helped with quite a few things (especially the schematic for the amp/circuitry). And it confirmed a few things that I suspected but did not want to fool with until I was certain of it. I recently came across a brief narrative in a forum from someone who reconditioned one. Although brief, another useful bit of info. One aspect of that narrative is that you could remove the entire 'board' from the unit and set it down outside of the unit i.e. there is plenty of slack in the wiring. If indeed, gives one a bit more room to work.
I'll start with adjusting the pins at the back - routine tuning. Then from that point on it will be matching up damping materials, cut to fit . . . those types of things. Give the performance to date, I'm suspecting that there likely is nothing damaged or misaligned. I certainly hope so.
At some point 'down the road' I'll provide an update.
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