– The need for new grommets, tone bar screws and washers is paramount to voicing & tone
Grommets are at the heart of the sustain and vibration of your tine and tone bar. When a grommet becomes old, shrunken and hard it loses it's natural ability to increase vibration of the tine. In actuality, it starts to choke out the free vibrations causing a short ring time and dull tone. The proper screw and grommet combination also ensures the stability and positioning of your tone bar. On the other hand, the tone bar screws are an absolute must to have straight for voicing articulately. Slightly bent screws cause voicing nightmares. Screws can be born bent or they can bend from physically pulling on tone bars to improve alignment. We change these on all of our repairs and restorations.
For proper voicing you need to be positive all screws are perfectly straight. We have manufactured our own custom nickel plated screws and original style tone bar grommets. We were tired of the lack of control you could get from the "off the shelf" grommets and screws when voicing pianos, particularly in the treble area. The grommets tended to tear on install and also do not let the tone bar flex or pop properly when a hard note is struck. From our standpoint, it is inexcusable for any company to sell you just grommets, we care about you and what is best for your Rhodes piano. Please watch our short video that dispels the myth that one grommet fits all tone bar screws followed by a tech tip where Chris shows you how to properly install our kit!