Over time the pickups in Rhodes pianos are prone to failure, especially if your Rhodes has suffered damp or water damage. There is also a certain batch of pickups in late Mark I and Mark II pianos which have a white sleeve around them. Unfortunately these pickups are notorious for failing. In any case, the pickup usually needs to be replaced.

Wiring Configuration:

Pickups in the harp on a 73 note piano are wired in groups of 3 for the vast majority of notes, and 4 for the bottom four notes. The actual number of pickups connected together by a single piece of wire is usually 6 (7 at the very bottom), but because the connection to the adjacent set of pickups is only through one wire from one end of a pickup, this actually means that only 3 are connected directly. This means that the resistance value is affected by how many are connected.

In working pickups for groups of 3, placing your multimeter at each terminal of a pickup, the reading should be around 60 ohms. For the bottom pickup group of 4 together, the reading should be around 45 ohms.

Essentially it’s a division of 180 ohms divided by how many pickups there are. So 180/3 = 60.

Using a multimeter to find the pickup:

Now let’s say one pickup is dead in a group, how do you find it? Well I would test that the pickup is actually dead by using the multimeter to measure the resistance. Here’s the formula for that for groups of three pickups. Remember values are approximate:

3 pickups group:
60 ohms – all pickups work correctly
90 ohms – one pickup is dead
180 ohms – two pickups are dead
Error/OL – all three pickups are dead

This is because the pickup that is failing is usually shorted, meaning there is zero resistance so it is not read. For the group of 4 pickups at the bottom, the values will be divided by four so:

4 pickups group:
45 ohms – all pickups work correctly
60 ohms – one pickup is dead
90 ohms – two pickups are dead
180 ohms – three pickups are dead
Error/OL – all four pickups are dead

If you have all pickups in a section that don’t work, this can cut out the circuit for the rest of the Rhodes. As the current is coming from the RCA socket on the left, it means that notes that are higher up may not work if a section of pickups is dead in the lower end. You can use crocodile clips and wire to bypass this section and test if the rest is working. I once had a piano with 40 failed pickups that didn’t make a sound at all!

88 Key Rhodes Pianos:

For 88 key pianos the wiring is usually in groups of two for the bottom third of the piano, and then groups of three for the rest until the very top. So the reading for groups of two should be 90 ohms for two working pickups, 180 for one dead, and zero for both dead. The top four pickups are wired in series so each will read 180 ohms if working. See the Rhodes wiring charts the Vintage Vibe have on their website.

And of course for 54 note Rhodes and early 73 pianos the wiring is in series, which means that if one pickup goes they all do! Very annoying.

Remove and replace:

Now to find the one(s) that doesn’t work! Usually the best trick is to tap the end with a flathead screwdriver. If it makes a healthy ‘thunk’ sound then the pickup works correctly. Most of the time, the pickups in the set of three (or four) that don’t work will not make this sound or it will be very quiet.

If this doesn’t work you may need to disconnect the pickup wires in order to measure each one in the set individually. However this is a pain and resoldering the old wire can be tricky, so do this as a last resort.

Usually then this is a case of clipping the dead pickup, removing it, installing a new one and soldering everything back together.