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Thanks, very informative!

I've been experimenting with a little single coil guitar pickup on various strings/tines and reading up on how to shield one against hum. Being new to pickups I didn't expect quite so much buzz (the web is full of how-to guides to shield the pickups...not sure if they're all that effective) but I've not seen similar complaints about Rhodes pickups. Aren't these also single coil pickups? How does it not produce 73 times the amount of hum/buzz?

I also poked around on here looking at whether anyone tried humbucker-style pickups in a Rhodes/Wurli. I'm curious if/how that affected the sound (I'd imagine it would affect the higher registers more).

Ah OK, so he was referring to the tone bar. I hadn't seen the words "resonator bar" in this context.

I stumbled across this really interesting series of build vids looking at how to create a DIY EP sound easily and inexpensively.

I've been reading up about the Rhodes architecture/materials because I'm interested in the idea of constructing a physical instrument (or part of one) as the basis for a full sample-based Kontakt instrument.

A few years ago I built an instrument called RootBass which was intended to capture the mechanical feel/sound of physical keyboard instruments like the Rhodes, Wurli, and Clavinet: the initial percussive strike, the sustained tone, and finally the release articulation. I also wanted the instrument to be noisy/gritty, so I added several noise textures, along with effects like rotary speaker, tape echo, and amp/cab simulation.

Some audio samples here for anyone interested.

My plan was to eventually take this bass instrument and use it as a springboard to create a full 73-key instrument (this time using a physical tine/tone bar/pickup assembly) and bookending the samples with customizable actuator sounds and noise in the same way.

Figured there might be some musicians here who'd appreciate this instrument.

Very interesting. I know almost nothing about pickups/flavors but these seem to be single-handedly responsible for adding those harmonics that make a sound more meaty/complex.

This post has also been an education:
https://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=10401.0

The third process in Rhodes tone production has to do with the way the tone bar is mounted.  The mounting post is not entirely rigid.  Vibrations can pass from the tone bar up through the post to the resonator bar.  The resonator bar is also a reed-like structure, free to vibrate at the end opposite that which is fastened to the post.

Where is the "resonator bar"? I don't see this on any diagram I've come across. The hammer strikes the tine/spring, which is attached to a post that connects to the tone bar. Is the resonator bar part of the tone bar?

This one is a profile view (from the Mark V):

A slightly different diagram (maybe from a newer/older manual?):

Excellent post there, thanks!

Hi folks. I had asked this over on Reddit and I think I have a somewhat better grasp of how the sound of the Rhodes is shaped but I wanted to ask Rhodes users here.

As I understand it, the hammer/tine/tone bar assembly are amplified by the pickup—including the proximity/placement of the pickups—and that signal is further shaped by the cabinet and speaker. (I'm leaving out effects here as I'm just interested in the essential quality of the raw sound.)

Someone mentioned that, if you changed the cab/speaker, it would still sound like a Rhodes, just a little different. So that might suggest that the real "sound" of it is in the tines/tone bars/pickups.

Thoughts?