73 Fender Rhodes Repair

[Morgan]

Hi guys,

A friend brought a 73 Fender Rhodes over for repair. I traced the problem back to failure of the voltage converter. The old germanium transistor is dead, so I plan to replace that with a new unit that Vintage Vibe sells for this particular model, and replace all the 40 year old electrolytics.

My question is this - the signal path in the pre amp section has several non=polar electrolytics in there. Normally, in any old tube amp, the last thing I would do is replace any signal path/coupling caps if they weren't leaking any voltage. But in this case, I'm tempted to just replace those non-polar caps anyway since they are 40 year old aluminum electrolytic caps. But I don't really know if it makes any difference with service life since they are non-polar.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Firestorm]

Non-polars are built to withstand reverse bias, but I don't think that does anything for their service life. If it were me, I'd replace them.

[Morgan]

Good enough for me. I don't see why the electrolyte wouldn't dry out like a normal polarized cap anyway.

Thanks