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Hi all,

It's finally time to sell my KMC Home Model. I've posted a bit about this Rhodes before but I'll describe below what makes it so special. If you're looking for the ultimate player's Rhodes this really is it.



This particular KMC Rhodes started its life in 1969 with the then brand new Peterson electronics including the stereo tremolo that suitcase Rhodes would later become famous for. It appears to have initially been set up for two 12" speakers but was quickly changed to its current setup of four 10" Oxford speakers (all of which date to 1969). Later in 1972 this Rhodes got a new harp for reasons unknown but it was almost certainly done at the factory as the harp was never affixed with the usual warranty gold foil label or finishing stamps. I purchased this Rhodes from the estate of a man that worked at CBS back in the day (Fender's owner at the time) which is why I believe it doesn't have those stamps as it was never intended to be sold to the public.

Together, all of those characteristics add up to the ultimate player's Rhodes. This Rhodes has the most desirable preamp, the best suitcase speaker setup for home/studio use, the best feeling solid wood keys, the most desirable "golden era" 1972 harp/tines, and the KMC body which provides a more stable structure than the traditional suitcases and stages. If you have been looking for a centerpiece to your keyboard collection, this is it.


Condition:
  - Mechanicals: Fully serviced in 2021 by Fender Rhodes LA, including the miracle mod, all-new grommets, key leveling, and tuning.

  - Electronics: All are the original 1969 components. They currently provide a wonderfully gritty "lofi" sound which is why I haven't had the heart to replace them yet. However, please note that they will eventually require maintenance or replacement in the future.

- Sound: This Rhodes is currently set up for a wide dynamic range going from a creamy mellow lofi to the classic snarly "bark" that golden era Mk1s are known for. The original electronics also help give it a bit of a distorted growl when played at higher volumes or when pushed using a boost/eq pedal.

- Sound demo:  https://youtu.be/FiVx0GR4ZWM

Hi all,

Came across an old reverb listing today for an elusive first gen 1971 KMC Home model Rhodes. There is a lot of misinformation/confusion on this model here and on other places online so I figured I'd repost these photos to show what one of these actually looks like and to start a thread dedicated to this particular model.

A lot of people confuse the original Home KMC with the Student/teacher KMC and assume they are identical but the Home model has some different features and is significantly rarer than the Student/teacher version.

Some unique differences of this particular unit include:

- Inclusion of a Fender Rhodes badge instead of the standard Rhodes badge that all other KMC student/teacher models had. (Side note: My 1969 Home model has a Rhodes badge so there seems to have been a bit of variation for the few that were produced.)

- No student power amp/metronome unit. This particular Home model has what appears to be a Peterson preamp box in the name rail but instead of the normal dual concentric knobs, this one has 3 witch hat knobs that control volume, treble, and bass respectively. It seems like this might be a later production design change as the only other 1st gen Home models I have seen actually have a normal peterson with stereo tremolo. This one also only has the student style power supply instead of the suitcase supply which might mean it only has the single 10" speaker as opposed to the 4 10's that my Home model has.

- The Fender Rhodes gold foil logo has HOME stamped in the model section. Normal student/teacher KMCs have either FR or FR-7055 stamped in that section instead. (As a side note, all the Executones seem to have HOME stamped here as well. I almost think someone came up with the name Executone after the fact and that they were just considered special order home models back in the day but if anyone has literature/ads showing the Executone name please let me know.)

-The power switch, headphone jack, and pilot light built into the right cheek block. I haven't ever seen them put into the right cheek block before. As far as I know, all the other Home/Executones have them built into the left cheek block. If you look closely, this one also has a jewel pilot light similar to the executones as opposed to the normal light from the peterson power amp that the other Home models I've seen normally have. It also looks like there is a second switch which might be a standby which if confirmed would indicate this particular unit might actually be powered by some sort of tube amp!



Note: It seems like these original Home models were not standardized and it is possible that every single one was just a one off that was built whenever an order for one came in. Each one I have seen has unique features and even the original ad which I included below shows one with a second foot pedal which I have never seen on any of the other surviving KMC Home models (aside from the 1977 version).

If anyone has any additional info on these original KMC 1 Home models please comment below. Ever since I bought my own, I have searched for seemingly nonexistent info on them and it seems like most of the information out there gets them confused with the KMC student/teacher model and/or the later 1977 KMC walnut home model.


Original reverb link: https://reverb.com/item/17732358-fender-rhodes-kmc-1-electric-piano-1971

Thread on my own 1969 Home model: https://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=10514

Thread on the Executone: https://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=7705.0

Hi all,

So I started compiling Rhodes production info a while ago in my free time and I wanted to share some of the conclusions I made from the data I compiled. The main reason I started this project was to try and get an accurate estimate on how many Rhodes were produced in total.


So how many Rhodes were actually produced?

Many people over the years (including Harold) have tried to estimate the total number of Rhodes produced with the consensus estimate currently being anywhere from 100,000 to 250,000 units in total. Unfortunately, due to poor record keeping at the factory and a haphazard serial # system (more on that below). we will never be able to know with 100% certainty how many Rhodes were produced. However, after reviewing the data, I have come up with an estimate that I am fairly confident in and that is probably about as accurate as we can get without an exponentially larger dataset to use. With that being said, I am going to share my estimate as 2 separate totals based on what I consider to be the 2 Rhodes production eras. The first era is from 1959 to 1976 and the second era is from 1977 to the end of production in 1984 (I will explain why I choose to group production like this later).


Based on the data, my estimate for the total amount of Rhodes produced from 1959-1976 is 78,550 units which includes all the models produced during that era. My estimates for each model are listed below.


1,750 sparkle tops (73 suitcase only): Serial #s from 1-1750ish.

(In the data set, the first black top piano occurs at serial 1754 in mid 1969. While this piano is still identical under the hood to the previous Sparkletops, I consider the black lid to officially mark the start of the MK1 era.)


31,300 suitcases: The first MK1s started using the Sparkletop serial numbers around 1750 in late 1969 and continued till around serial 3020 in early 1970. After that, the serials go from 50,000 in late 1970 to what was most likely 79,999 in late 1976.


40,000 Stages: Started at serial number 20,000 in 1970 and goes to around 49,999 in 1975. Then because the suitcases already used the 5x,xxx's, the production #s jump to 80,000 sometime in late 1975/early 1976 and continue to around 90,000.

NOTE: For a brief time in 74/75 I believe the Stage 88s used the 1x,xxx serials before rolling into the 73 numbers. Unfortunately most of the 1974/75 pianos I came across had illegible date stamps and or serial #s so I was not able to include many in the dataset to confirm.


Piano basses: I didn't spend too much time looking for piano basses, but for the data I did collect it looks like they made about 1500 total from 1959-1973 (A 1973 was the last model I had in the dataset for pre 1977 piano basses).

Throw in say another 4,000 units for all the misc. rarer models like the Jetsons, KMC, Celeste, Home, 1974-76 basses, etc and the grand total of Rhodes from 1959-1976 comes out to about 78,550.


So what happened in 1977?


From 1959-76 Rhodes used the gold foil labels with the serial #'s hand stamped on. However, in 1977 they switched to the black ink labels that already had the serial #s printed on them. From what I can tell, they started these in early 1977 in the 6xx,xxx's and then around mid to late 1977 they jumped up to the 72x,xxx's for some reason. These labels were applied to all models indiscriminately so there is no way to see a breakdown between the different models like on the pre 1977's. These stickers were also applied randomly as I found numerous times in the data where earlier pianos had later serial #s than later pianos and vice versa. I still created a rough estimate from these pianos but because of the inconsistencies and because it seems like they might have skipped some "blocks" of #s I have a lot less confidence in the accuracy of the production totals for the 1977-84 pianos which is why I choose to create two separate eras. With that being said, the total estimate I have for 1977 through 1984 is 108,678 Rhodes produced with the breakdown in serial numbers being:

Early 1977: The black ink badges start around 600,000 and went to most likely 62x,xxx by the middle of the year. (I don't have any serial numbers from the change but based on how many they were making per week it seems likely this was the cutoff. Then they jumped to 720,000 and stayed in that format to the end of production in 1984. The very last production date I have recorded is a MKV with serial 804,332 which was made in the 43rd week of 1984. However, the latest serial I recorded is from a MKV that was made in the 29th week of 1984 which is serial 806,351. With that being said, John McLaren claims that the last serial # used by Rhodes was 808,678 so that is the serial # I am going with as the last Rhodes produced.

Added up with the 1959-1976 estimate and my total estimate for the number of Rhodes produced between 1959 and 1984 is 187,228. Obviously this a rough estimate due to the factors mentioned above but I still think it is a really good ballpark for the total produced. Ben Bove previously estimated between 100,000-150,000 and Harold himself estimated about 250,000 were made so I feel comfortable claiming 187,228 as an accurate estimate.


Feel free to look over the data and let me know what you think. Also, if anyone wants to create estimate breakdowns for specific models or years feel free to post it in this thread. I already did this once a while back on the post below where I estimated the total # of "Golden era" suitcases.

https://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=10606.msg59014#msg59014


Cheers!



TL;DR I estimate that Rhodes produced 187,228 pianos from 1959-1984.

Hi all,


Its finally time to part with my 270 Wurlitzer. Lately I've been going in a different direction musically so its time for her to go on to the next caretaker.

Some info about this particular Wurly:

I am the second owner. First owner used it mainly as living room decor and I probably played it more in the first hour owning it then it had been played since new. The Insides are in immaculate condition which as anyone interested in wurlitzers knows is a welcome change from how most look today. The walnut finish is also in great condition with only a few small nicks and polish spots. It would make a prefect statement piece in a living/music room.

Earlier this year I had the action, strikeline, regulation, tuning, and keybed completely setup by a local tech. It now sounds better than new and I even had an effects loop installed so you can use the internal speakers with pedals.

I'm asking $3,500 OBO. I'm located in South Orange County CA. Can possibly help with local delivery in SoCal but would strongly prefer local pickup. PM me if interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFg4DIyJQwc

Cool demo clip on how Hohner thought the Clavinet II would be used by musicians in 65/66.

Definitely a far cry from Superstition, but interesting to see what Hohner thought their target sound/demographic was before any major recordings had been made with it.

Hi all,

I just got done reading an old sound on sound article on Ernst Zacharias and the Clavinet in which it was revealed that Hohner actively tried to remove the percussive attack that the Clavinet was known for! In fact, Ernst received a patent to remove it in 1983 that would have likely made it to production had the Clavinet not been discontinued.

Link to the article: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/ernst-zacharias-hohner-clavinet

Today these quirks are integral to both the Clavinet's sound and the other electro Mechanical keyboards but they clearly weren't always thought of that way (Ex: Hammond key click). My question to those of you who played these instruments back then is, what where your thoughts on the percussive aspect of these keyboards at the time? Was the key click in Hammonds as desirable as it is today? How about the percussive attack on the Clav, a desirable effect or a limitation to be overcome? What about on Rhodes and Wurlitzers? It seems like Wurlitzer only cared about their actions and Harold never seemed to be happy with the sound of the Rhodes but I'm curious what the player consensus on their quirks was back then.

Hi all,

To the Clavinet owners out there, how often do you use them compared to your Rhodes/Wurly (if you have one)? It seems like rough condition D6 and E7s are going for the same or more as good condition Rhodes or playable Wurlys but I doubt I would use a Clav more than my Rhodes/Wurly to justify the price premium. Not in a position to buy one at the moment just curious to know how often they are used by current owners compared to other keyboards in your collection and if you didn't buy one recently, do you think they are worth more than a comparable Rhodes/Wurly (for usability not rarity)?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115416306388?hash=item1adf5912d4:g:3xUAAOSwZKVioISc

There are a few of these "Dynosaur effector" pedals on Ebay right now from Japan. I think its just a clone of the Dyno preamp but at $1,300 I'd hope it includes a tri chorus or was at least hand built by Chuck Monte himself. Can't find any info on them online so maybe they were only for the Japanese market?

Does anyone have any info on them? Were they made by Chuck Monte? Limited run from a boutique builder? Who knows?

Hi all,

For the Peterson suitcase owners out there, when do you know it's time to have a tech look at the electronics? Both of mine (mostly) work but I'm worried about the amp fires that I've heard about over the years. Is that the usual way these amps die or is it just a rare situation that could have been prevented by proper care (ie not leaving the amp on overnight)? Right now I'd prefer to spend the money on getting my wurly setup but I also don't want to wait for my Rhodes to self combust either...

Here's the situation with both:

1969 KMC Home: original preamp and suitcase electronics. Occasional crackling and pops with slight constant hum that seems to only come from 1 channel. Also has occasional power loss on 1 channel.

1971 Suitcase: rebuild preamp and original suitcase electronics. One amp is dead and is currently disconnected, the other amp has a slight hum but otherwise sounds ok.


I guess my question is, can I continue playing both until they just stop making sound or are they ticking time bombs destined to go down in a blaze of glory that will cost way more to fix?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynt7S9jeAWo&t=5s

Came across this short video of Harold and thought I'd share as I have never seen a video of him before. It looks like it is the intro to one of his "Rhodes Piano Method" videos.

Please share if you have any other clips or audio, it would be amazing to hear Mr. Rhodes playing a Rhodes!

Hi all,


I had my 1971 Rhodes repaired by a respected expert a few months ago and at the time they said the grommets needed to be replaced. Oddly though, they recommended that I keep the old screws and washers instead of replacing them. They also used a custom set of grommets with different hardnesses in the bass, middle, and treble which they claimed were superior to the one size fits all approach.  However, I'm having difficulty voicing particularly in the bass and middle registers and I think it is due to a combination of the grommets and bent tonebar screws.


I tried swapping some of the different grommets around and noticed: 1. Each section of grommets have different heights and heads 2. the middle grommets are a very tight fit on the screws compared to the bass/treble which slide on fairly easily. and 3. the middle notes have a nicer "round" sound with the softer treble grommets compared to a more Wurlitzer like buzz with the harder ones. This leads me to believe the bass/mid grommets are acting like dried out originals by excessively dampening the vibrations from the tines.


Has anyone else restored their Rhodes with a range of different durometer grommets before and could shine a light on what the benefit is supposed to be? I know now that I should have pushed harder for new screws (especially because the bent ones have been a PITA to voice) but I have never read about anyone else doing custom grommets so I'm curious if anyone has.

Hi all,

After searching on this forum and elsewhere for seemingly nonexistent total production numbers, I've decided to do some of my own research to see if I could come up with a ballpark figure on the number of early mk1 suitcases.

Specifically, I am going to estimate the number of 1969-1973 suitcases originally produced. The data I reference is from 1971-72 but the yearly production numbers should be similar for 1969, 70, and 73 as the pianos were still mostly handmade until 1973.

To make this estimate, I'm going to use the serial numbers from several pianos and attempt to figure an average pianos finished in a week to get the yearly total. It is important to note that the first few digits have zero correlation to the number of pianos built till that point (ex: a 1971 rhodes with a 50,000 serial # IS NOT the 50,000 piano produced.)

The production #'s are ones that I've found on this forum, pianos listed for sale, the E model, and my own 1971. If  your production # is here and you want it removed I'm happy to take it off.

ok so here are the serial #'s followed by the finish date week/year:

1.  50,433     03 1971

2.  50,795     35 1971

3.  50,871     43 1971

4.  50,923     44 1971

5.  51,743     37 1972


So with these numbers we can deduce a few possible conclusions.

1. Within a week between pianos 3 & 4, roughly 50 pianos were produced. There is a chance that 3 was on a Friday and 4 was the next Monday, but I think this is still a good benchmark.

2. From pianos 2 and 3, there is a roughly 75 piano jump which is a lot less than would be expected for an 8 week gap from the previous estimate of 50 per week. My guess is that Rhodes were made in "batches" so that some weeks produced a lot more finished Rhodes than other weeks.

3. Between pianos 2 and 5 there is a gap of about 1,000 pianos which gives us another estimate of around 1,000 suitcases being produced for 1971. This is a much lower estimate than 50 per week (which at 52 weeks would come out to 2,600 per year). Personally, I find 1,000 to be more realistic than 2,600 at least for 1971 due to the batch theory and because there were numerous changes made to Rhodes that year which combined with the handmade nature of the early Mk1's meant that the bean counters hadn't fully streamlined production yet.

So using some rough guesstimation, I'd figure:

650 for 1969 (including transition sparkletops)

800 for 1970

1000 for 1971

1200 for 1972

1400 for 1973

Which would add up to roughly 5,050 "golden era" suitcase Fender Rhodes originally produced. Obviously this is a really crude estimate but I think it is a good place to start. I'd love to hear any other production total theories if anyone has any. I saw Ben Bove did a production survey years ago but I didn't see him post any conclusions on total amounts produced. If there's enough interest in this topic, I figure we could get more accurate estimates and possibly work on similar ones for the other post 1970 models as well.

Hi everyone,

This is a follow up post to my previous topic on troubleshooting the dull sound of my 1977 Wurlitzer 270 https://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=10588.0

In that previous topic I discovered that some of the reed bolts were overtightened which was contributing to the lack of dynamics but did not seem to be the root cause. I have decided to start from the ground up and see if anyone  has any suggestions on what could be causing the dull sound. I have previously tried playing with the leftoff, strikeline, and pickups but I admittedly did not have a good grasp on what I was doing. At this point I'm grasping at straws after playing with those other variables which normally seem to be the root of most peoples problems. My best guess now is that the hammer butt felts are too thick as I have read that Wurlitzer started making them thicker in the late 70s but that still doesn't explain why some notes sound a lot better than others.

I've attached an MP3 that has samples of what some of the good and bad notes sound like. It was recorded with a phone mic placed in front of one of the speakers. At 00:27 I get to B15 which is one of the best across the keyboard and has a wider range of dynamics and timbre than any of the notes before it. at 00:52 I play E32 which also seems to be one of the better notes and it too has more of an attack and "bark" than the surrounding notes. For Queen's Your my best friend and Dancing in the moonlight it is easy to tell how much bark this 270 is missing. I played both pieces with a fair bit of force but never really got much of the bark that is present in the original recordings or in cover versions. (I know both would have likely been recorded on wurlys with the slightly thinner 140/200 reeds, but I don't think that is a huge factor between them and the 270)


Any ideas/suggestions for what to work on would be greatly appreciated.

You cannot view this attachment.

Hi everyone,


I am working on getting my 1977 Wurlitzer 270 properly setup but I am running into issues with the bark/dynamics. The problem is that nearly the entire keyboard is full of dull notes with little dynamics and zero growl or bark. There are a few notes that sound great but most don't. I have tried adjusting the letoff, pickups, reed screw tightness and even tried moving the harp to alter the strikeline but nothing has fixed the dull mellow sound. I have tried swapping reeds with adjacent notes and it seems like the dull sound follows some of them so I am curious if that could be the issue? Two of the best notes are the low B's which each seem to have better solder pyramids than their neighbors. Could it be the solder pyramid shape that is causing the other notes to be so dull and mellow? Many of the pyramids have been unevenly filed and some appear to have chunks taken out of them.

I have read a few different posts claiming the pyramid shape can change the tone but the descriptions on the effect have been vague. Does anyone have an exact idea on what an uneven pyramid actually does to the sound? I've included a few pictures of B 15 and C 16 to show the difference in pyramid shape. B 15 is on the left in each picture and is one of the better sounding notes on the whole keyboard. The C is isn't terrible compared to some of the other notes but it lacks the dynamics and "bite" that the B has when struck hard.

Also, any other theories on what could be causing the dull sound would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Came across this photo in a listing for NOS tines. It's probably a cutting chart from pre 1975 but the weird part is that tine is spelled tyne.

I have never seen tine spelled tyne anywhere else and I was curious if anyone has seen that spelling before? The tine is tapered in the diagram so my guess is that it is from 1969-1971 as I can't imagine tine changing spelling any time after that.

Why would Harold choose that spelling then change it? 

Hi everyone,

First time posting on here but long time reader. This forum has been incredibly informative for learning about Rhodes and I'd like to thank everyone who has shared their knowledge here over the years.


I recently picked up what I believe is a prototype home piano from the early 1970s and I wanted to know if anyone here has seen a similar piano to this one before?

The first image is from the Rhodes Super Site and has been referenced by a few users over the years as a piano that is fairly common, but I believe all of them have been confusing it with the KMC Student model that has the metronome amp on the bottom left of the keyboard. The piano in the ad has the Peterson preamp in the name rail and has two pedals which I have never seen before. Has anyone seen a piano that is IDENTICAL to the piano in the ad and isn't a student model with the metronome and isn't the 1977 Walnut case home model?

The next photos are of the keyboard I recently got. I can confirm it is a Peterson preamp and not the student amp in a different location.