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There is a set of videos on keyboardmag.com that shows a tech in the Rhodes factory who is being interviewed and is working on an early 70s Rhodes. It is very informative, in case you don't know about it, it is at keyboardmag.com in the video section. Enjoy!

Actually this guy gigs continually worldwide but I'm not sure if I heard him exactly correctly about how his piano is set up, although I am pretty sure he said he took all the felts off and adjusted it to play with the keys directly playing the hammers. He has a tech who sets up the electronics when he uses the suitcase amps but does all of the adjustments on the piano himself. Last time he came through town the piano sounded fine, he said it was a '72 model I think? Does that one have wood hammers? Anyway.. if I get a chance to talk to him again I'll certainly retain more of the info about it, after opening these up and familiarizing myself with the various parts.

Here's what I did. At first I thought I might be able to adequately adjust the slightly older keys without the bumps but afterwards they were still very sluggish. There was a pianist coming in to jam and he was commenting on the inconsistency.

So I took the "good" keys and hammers, and replaced the year-older keys and hammers. I removed the end blocks from each and switched them, so the harp and pickups on the piano was original. I also kept the dampers to match with the harp, because they were in much better shape than the dampers that were on the stage piano with the bumps..

Other than a few keys that are double stroking the switch went off fairly well and the action is 100% better. Next time I'm in the market for a transition (before bump, after bump) era Rhodes I'll definitely try to find out if the keyboard is later era or not, because this Suitcase piano is basically the same as a later MKII now, and I bet there are several hundred, maybe thousand, Rhodes with the round top that have the same insides basically as the MKII. The only way to tell is to look at the keys inside.

All of this is from my avoiding doing the bump mod. I just need to now learn how to do the bump mod on the remaining keyboard.

The other design difference is the older models have the felts on the hammers, instead of the keys. A professional Rhodes player in the area once told me he didn't put a bump mod on the older Rhodes he played, but he simply removed all the felts. He said it made more noise when you played it but it was smoother and faster.

Does the bump mod also involve putting felts on the keys instead of the hammers? Or is there a design difference on the older hammers that makes that not work (older hammers with no felts)

Cool. Yeah I lost my fluke multimeter and just got an ultracheap digital multimeter and every single good pickup measured right around 180. The bad ones were no where near that.

Thanks for the links. I read them, but I am wondering still what type wire goes between the terminals of each of the pickups? I suppose I could simply use the extra wire from all the dead pickups I got (all of which are the circa 1980 type with the white tape covering the coils). Also, when soldering back together large numbers of pickups, is it better to de-solder all the terminals and start from scratch, or is this a waste of time? Thanks!

Before I ask, some or all of these questions may be answered in the service manual. And if they are addressed in the service manual, where are they addressed?

Some questions about wiring rhodes pups:

What kind of wire is used between the pickups?
How do you solder/unsolder the pickups so that they don't get messed up?
Is it more effective to wire them after they've been connected to the harp, or before?
Is there a good use for bad (open) pickups?
Should the later white-tape pickups have the same impedance values as the earlier clear-tape pickups?
Why are so many of the white-tape pickups bad?

Another way to at least get a cool Miles Davis Electric sound, is, besides the aforementioned ideas, get a Ring Modulator pedal. The Moogerfooger is incredible, you can use it for a tremolo as well, since you don't have the suitcase, and with a quick dialing in you can get various effects including what sounds like an eq or overdrive but is just a slight ring mod effect to the upper harmonics. I think Jan Hammer used one with his piano in Mahavishnu, and Chick Corea used one when he was playing with Miles. I don't have one but I'm planning on getting one. I did own one but like an idiot sold it. They were used a lot back then, though.

Did anyone mention the pickup wiring?

http://www.fenderrhodes.org/rhodes/manual/ch10.html#fig10-3

It details a mod that increases the voltage output of the rhodes. If you have a '78 it is already probably wired in this manner. Reading this topic

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=338&highlight=pickup+impedance

Leads me to believe that you may be able to produce an older Rhodes sound by modding the wiring  back to the old way. This would reduce gain but increase distortion, possibly. Keep in mind I haven't tried this, I'm only assuming that the sound they got on the old ones had something to do with the wiring of the pickups on the old ones. Please, someone tell me whether this makes sense.

BTW I'm measuring my pickups to reassemble a stage piano to be sure none of them are dead. Do I simply measure the impedance to make sure the pickup isn't open (dead) or is there a range of impedance a good pickup should measure?

I set up my 77 suitcase mk 1 with the tines closer to the pickups and it has tons of bite to it. It's really easy to get an overdriven sound from it.  An EQ might help, though if you have a separate amp. I think moving the pickups closer to the tines is a step in the right direction. The pickups pickup the vibration of the tines differently depending on the proximity to the tines as well as the placement of the tine relative to the pickup. What this means is that you are actually altering the resulting EQ by moving the pickups closer. You get more bite. That was the result of my placing the pickups closer and this was a Janus amp, whereas the other suitcase of mine has the pickups at a more moderate distance. The amp is a Petersen. I don't know what would happen if I switched tops, but Still, you will have more bark, more gain and more of a funky sound with the pickups closer.

I recently looked at a Wurly 206 classroom model, it was in very nice shape, but the seller told me it had the vibrato circuit but it never had been activated. Furthermore, this particular unit had never been used for a classroom, so it was used in someone's home without the classroom wires connecting to anything. Can someone show me a link to somewhere on this site that it details the process of converting a 206 to have the functional vibrato? Thanks!

Without a doubt, this is 100% pure electro-dance-funk.  Capturing the nuances of afro-latin bass grooves, disco dance beats combined with rhodes, synth, and vocoder.... thats officially electro-dance-funk!

That's what I'm hearing too.

I like the fact you have Rhodes in there, basically as an underpinning of the music. I'm a bit more partial to acoustic drums but that's OK..

One of the bridle straps on my '78 Rhodes 73 Stage is broken. It's hanging from the hammer. I want to just grab one off the other piano I'm using for parts, and put it on the hammer and slip it over the damper lever. Any pointers as to how this is effectively done easily would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks Sean, that makes lots of sense. The only thing about switching individual keys besides the balance rails being set for the other keys, is the felts being on the keys rather than the hammers, so there's that problem, so I need to keep the hammers and keys together. I'll try to get the desired results sometime next week.

As I said I'll probably try to put it back in shape in the stage bottom before I explore the possibility of moving the keys, etc. to the other suitcase top box. I'm not necessarily averse to trying though, so if you're right about "avoiding it at all costs" I may indeed find out, through first hand experience, why. Thanks again. All the screws that hold the action assembly in to the top are the same on both pianos although I guess it is possible there are minute spacing differences.

I think these are all good, valid suggestions. Here's one of the things.. I feel more confortable switching parts than I do performing a bump mod, because I've never done that before.

Also, the stage piano is in the restoration process, other than the keys which I've cleaned up. So there are other issues with the stage piano: 1) Pickups are off the harp, and I have some pickups that will need to be moved to it from a 54 key that I initially thought I'd put the 73's pups on; 2) There are 3 missing damper felts on the stage piano; 3) The stage piano was not stored in a dry place and there were things that got in there, so the harp needs some cleaning and attention including removal of some paint or something that got in there (left open in a room that was being painted?); 4) one of the damper bridle straps is broken on the stage piano.

So, basically, the only thing to really be proud of is this came out of the factory with the bumps and felts on the pedestals.

The Suitcase piano I'm wanting to move the keys and hammers to has its main issues with its existing hammer felts: 1) several were moved around on the hammers but I have repositioned them so all hammers play fluidly 2) several of the hammer felts have much wear and probably need replacing, they're flattened out on the hammers. Still, after I cleaned them up and put all the hammer felts back on the hammers that needed to be repositioned, the action and playability is 150% better than before. But the other suitcase I've got with the older amp but same keys/action plays smoother, to the point that it probably doesn't really need a bump mod (although I'm sure one would improve the action a bit).

I think the little pedal plug could easily be lengthened or perhaps simply replaced with one of suitable length. And I didn't look, but the feet on the bottom of the suitcase tops may be in a place that it would be easy enough to put 2 feet on the stage bottom so it fits perfectly on the suitcase bottom.

So, I have decided to leave everything on its original piano for now and focus on restoring the stage top. Then when it is in good playing condition I can explore the possibility of adapting it to the suitcase top, or switching the keys/hammers.

I figured I'd need to switch both the keys and the frame holding them, because the balance rail is balanced according to the keys fitted to it. I'll see what I can do. There are a few other problems that need to be addressed.

I bet 9 times out of ten it is a bad cable connection. We need someone to show how to re-solder the connections on the cable.

No, I would rather put the guts of the stage into the case of the suitcase top. There is a complete set of pickups on the suitcase but the stage is missing the pickups. And it was in worse overall shape, so I want to stay with the original suitcase outides, and the tines/tonebar/pickup assembly. Well, I';ll just do it and see what happens. Thanks .

Is there any problem with switching say, the keys from one Rhodes to another? I found out the later model 73 Stage MK 1 has the pedestals with bumps and felts on the pedestals and I was thinking of putting them on the MK1 Rhodes with the suitcase amp, because it has seen much more mileage and has the flat pedestals and the action isn't great (although it is still much better than before I cleaned it all up).

What parts would be required to be switched? The keys, the hammers, What about the harp? Can it be left on the other one? I'm assuming they made these all things being relatively the same for mass production? What about value? Hurt help or remain the same? Thanks.. You Rhodes Scholars... :wink:

You don't need that part. The push rod needs to be adjusted out long enough to remain on the pedal and still be firm against the sustain pin inside the piano. If it isn't long enough it will fall out. It would fall out even with that guide, if it isn't set to the right length. You can operate it with or without that guide. You said it worked when you tried it. Was there a guide then?

That's a nice year for the Rhodes, so if you were reading the other post where the guy who probably traded with you is asking about it, I think you did a fairly even trade--as long as you can iron out the sustain pedal problem.

I think you did just fine. The Wurlys are going for a bit more, perhaps, or about the same. Depends on the condition, probably but I agree completely with Rob.

In fact I've been thinking about trying to trade one of my Rhodes for a Wurly. Maybe I'll put an add up on Craigslist too!

I also have 2 suitcases just like those you have but mine are closer in age, each one is just the other side of the transition around '76 or so when the preamp amp was changed. Interestingly the pedestals are flat on both, but the action and feel is better on the older one on mine because it was kept in better shape by its owner. I also have a '79 stage top and I was considering switching the key/tines/pickup assembly if it seems they are better feel.

The older type preamp amp has a warmer sound, I think, and the newer amp has much more gain and power, and overdrives the speakers easier, but it is actually colder sounding in terms of "soul". I have posted a couple of topics regarding which one to keep--haven't been able to make up my mind yet! I guess that can be a good problem to have. I agree they have their own merits sonically. It's like a guitarist who owns a Les Paul Custom from '80 and a Les Paul Standard from '74.

I hesitate to compare it to a Strat and Les Paul.. That would be more like if you owned a Wurly and a Rhodes, probably.

Ruining a vintage piece! Ouch! Seriously, though, is there room in the routing on the body for the pickup?

Another consideration would be the placement of the pickups relative to the string, you probably know on a bass or guitar the closer the pickup is to the bridge, the more trebly it is.

You could literally sprinkle the bass with pickups, all wired differently and have some sort of switching matrix on there to determine the order. Or, Just have each pickup wired directly to a switcher similar to an effects switcher, so you could put the pickup in or out of the mix with the other ones.

It seems like a basic multimeter would tell the impedance, and basic wiring 101 would tell you the resultant impedance from wiring the pickups in series or parallel.

I would like to know how it turns out.. I may have some extra pups myself.

I think I'm starting to understand something. This is a "pre-bump" pedestal Rhodes, so the mushiness is because it may benefit from a pedestal bump mod, right?

Interestingly, my other Rhodes Suitcase (just slightly older, with Peterson amp) has a much better action, I think the sound is better, but it has the same flat pedestals and felts on the hammers. It was kept in adjustment by a tech over its lifetime (according to its former owner who bought it new) whereas this other Rhodes is mushier but was not kept in adjustment. I think even though the bump mod is recommended, it appears from observation that a well-maintained Rhodes without the bump mod still can play really well.

Also I have a stage top that I'm going to clean up. It was much dirtier, much more stuff inside, but it is a '79 round top and has the felts on the pedestals and the bumps underneath. After I clean it up I hope it is at least as good as the maintained earlier model, maybe better, action wise.

Thanks for all the excellent knowledge. I have just gotten to the point that I have a space that i can try to restore the Rhodes's that I have. I played this again and to be honest, I think the tines are close but not too close, depending on the preferences. The sound is really more aggressive, "growly" if you will, than my earlier Peterson Rhodes that is in my living room, but the mechanical setup of the top is identical. So did they start putting the bumps on the pedestals after they had flat pedestals and felts on the hammers, or before?.

I got the stage top that I have and started to clean it up now. It is different than this suitcase top that has the felts on the hammers, it actually has the felts on the pedestals and the pedestals have a small bump at the beginning of them, flat out to the end. My Rhodes Suitcase that is in the living room is similar to tthe other suitcase top, felts on the hammers and flat pedestals, but the action and feel is much better, probably because it was kept in good condition and dialed in by a tech from time to time. . Which setup is better?

Anyway this stage was going to be used for parts, pickups, etc. to put on a 54 key rhodes that I have that had several faulty pickups. But I've decided to (most likely ) part out the 54, and place the pickups back on the 73 stage. That will give me 3 working Rhodes, one stage and 2 suitcase versions.

Dude, you really should take some electronics classes before you hurt yourself or somebody else.. Seriously though, The cable plugged into the fuse holder? That could hurt something. The fuse is there to shut the amp off if too much current is flowing through the fuse. You basically had a conductive piece of metal where the fuse should have gone. A few things: What model suitcase amp is it? You may be lucky to be alive. There's a cable between the top rhodes and the amp on the side below. Was it connected? Be happy no one was hurt :lol:

I was cleaning my Rhodes suitcase, with the Janus amp, and I decided the tines needed adjusting. They were all over the place with the dynamic response varying greatly from key to key. So I used my ears and adjusted all the tines so they were resting in the optimal position. They had a livelier dynamic response than before, and there was plenty of gain, as the pickups were all positioned fairly close to the tines. I noticed right off that the gain of this suitcase was higher, the amp more powerful than the 80w Peterson, but it doesn't sound as good as my Rhodes with the Peterson amp. If the amp is turned up much higher than 12 o'clock, you can almost hear the pickups without even playing anything. The amp overdrives the speakers. The tine placement on the service manual states between 1/16" and 1/8" and even that you can have a tine even closer than that to get optimal dynamic response.

The keys are all now playing much more consistent in the dynamic range, yet they're almost unbearably loud.

Did I put the tines too close to the pickups? Or is this just a case of the amp being louder than the Peterson amp? This would be great for stage performance, the speakers get an overdrive and there's a darker, edgier growl in the sound of this Rhodes, but still it is tough to dial in a nice volume setting that doesn't sound somewhat harsh for playing at home.. Any ideas? Particularly because the service manual devotes all of a couple of paragraphs to what could be a primary factor affecting tone in the Rhodes?

Googled "Protek Piano" and the first listing was this:

http://www.sheetmusic1.com/lubricants.html

However there are a few Protek products, which one is it? MPL-1? Prolube?

I put the keys back on and even though therer were probably some misplaced leveling shims, overall the keys are very level.

I found the hammer felts to be very worn, and this piano would benefit from a complete replacement of all the felts, probably. I did move the ones that were shoddily placed back to the proper position, they were causing the hammers not to seat properly.

This piano also also has the tines in various places out of adjustment. I'll consult the service guide to the proper adjustment of the tines, I was wondering where in front of the picup would be the prime placement for tone? If the front of the pickup was a clock face would the tine be best placed in the middle, or slightly off center, or what? Would the prime placement be different for a high tine versus a low one?  So far I'm still much more enamored by the tone of my earlier Suitcase, but it could be because the keyboard/pickup/tines was maintained rather than any perceived superior sound from the earlier Peterson amp. I may try out the other keyboard with the Janus preamp to see if it still retains its "superior" tone. Thanks for all input.

Do you mean like a vinyl cloth cover that slips over it when the case is closed? They did make those. I don't know where you can get them though, I have a pair that goes with my suitcase piano. They have the Rhodes brand on them I think, I believe they may have come with them originally.

Yes, a few of them are either partly sticking out one side or the other, or simply only covering half of the hammer. And some shims did come off the balance rail posts. Does that mean I'll have to undergo the painful and meticulous leveling of the keys? I need some of that lubricant. It is pretty inexpensive online, available on piano tech parts websites.

OK thanks
Another question: On the felt strips on the hammers that are out-of-place, how does one put them back like the others?

Thanks for the response. Actually I already was perusing just those sections you put links for on your response. I think this is a '78 model, yes, it has the round top. Pedestal bumps? Don't know if they have those. I did notice that the diagram provided shows pedestals with a small ridge on them. The pedestals on these keys are all flat. They do have some dust on them (from the pedestal felts, or some type of lubricant?) The felts are all on the hammers, not on the pedestals, and some of them were not perfectly seated on the hammers, I believe this may have caused some mushiness. What is the purpose of the paper shims? I'm searching all over the room now..

I did check the hammer flanges basically I lifted and dropped each hammer to see that they moved freely, and they are all smooth but a few of them didn't drop completely back down, they were the ones (or next to the ones) with the felts that were slightly off center, one of the felts looked like it was impinging on the hammer moving all the way back to resting position. These are the plastic hammers.

I found this to be helpful:

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/service/keybed.php

I was wondering what type lubricant(s) would be the best to use. So this is the keys with flat pedestals and felt strips on the hammers.

Also I think I lost some of the balance rail shims, but all the felts are there. Learning much more from having looked under the hood. Some mushiness possibly from key swell around the guide pins? Some white powdery stuff is on the pedestals. Is that a dry lubricant? Thanks I'll consult other parts of the Supersite presently.

Recently, I had the opportunity to move my Janus Suitcase Rhodes 73 to a workshop area. This piano, although electronically fine, and cosmetically good, has had some problems with mushy action, and some keys sound louder than others. It is a drag because it would otherwise be a greeat instrument, and the amp section is apparently just amplifying the limitations and problems of the acoustic mechanisms of the top.

So I opened it up yesterday and took off the tone bar assembly, and then pulled the keys out. I will clean the keys and I'll take an air hose to the area removing all the dust. The hammer tips seem to be in decent shape, and I'm impatient to get it playing in much better shape, so I'll probably forgo any procedures that require a great deal more technical knowledge, even though they may make this piano play in a really great way.

One of the first things I noticed was that the tines and pickups were not really dialed in properly. So I have a few questions for the experts:

1)should any attention be paid to particular areas of the keys and hammer mechanisms when I blow them out?
2)What is optimal placement of tines relative to the pickups?
3) What is optimal placement of the hammers when striking the tines?

Any other general help would be appreciated. I'll probably try a quick adjustment procedure, put it back together, then go for better detail on a second go-around, especially if I'm still very dissatisfied.

My year-earlier suitcase 73 will be used as a "benchmark" because it plays very easily and doesn't have the "mush" problem--and, it was apparently regularly dialed in during the years its original owner played it, from around '75 to around '90.

Thanks.. Feel free to direct me to the service manual section--That's cool because I'm on my way over there presently..

Moogerfooger pedals would do this and I would start with either a phaser, or a low pass filter, but to get a bunch of really synthy tones and some other great effects that have actually been heard on early 70s jazz-rock music such as early 70s Miles Davis or Mahavishnu Orchestra, get a Ring Modulator. You can also get a really great tremolo effect out of a Ring Modulator, so there are various uses. I'm sure someone else will chime in here.. BTW An analog delay is also very useful for a Piano.

I like what the industrious young Jan Hammer did with his early-70s suitcase: He put a Minimoog on top.

Try plugging it into an overdrive pedal, or playing into an overdriven tube amp, or also using an eq pedal from the keyboard into the OD pedal into the amp. That would be easier than totally changing the pickups on it.

I've got a suitcase amp with no top.. Unfortunately I'm fairly far from you.. I'm in the Oklahoma area.

I've got some heavy gear on top of my round-top Rhodes 73. There was a similar topic earlier somewhere. I think the round top can handle an amount of weight, but the round top will start to sink in the middle if there is very much weight on it. The problem with that is that the top will touch the tone bars and cause notes to clank.

But if you don't have too much weight on it, I'm with Kineticturtle on this--the round top isn't too extreme. The top will hold about anything relatively flat. Just use common sense.

If you did want to place a great deal of weight on it, it might make sense to find a place in the middle of the top that doesn't touch the tone bars and put a verticle support inside. I have thought about doing this myself; but I've put a fairly heavy 9 space rack, a Minimoog D, and an MPC 3000 on the top all at once. It just makes sense to be careful about it because the top does sink under the weight, and the tone bars are under there. So in the middle, some type of support may make sense. Another approach might be to look under the top and try to put some type of support underneath.. I don't know how well that would work.

A very simple solution would be to get a small flat board and place it across the round-top. Then you could even create a frame that goes over the top and rests on the tolex wood framework sticking up.

Right, they are stereo already. I powered this one up--maybe not as nice as the one you found, Steveo but probably less expensive! And all tolex is there, etc.

The AC hum is much higher-pitched in the speaker at left when facing the amp, but it is coming through all speakers a bit. Are there separate caps for each speaker? It must be that, AC hum, because it is, as you assumed, around Bb.

Replacing power supply caps--easy job? I have a friend who is a former TV technician and has worked on tube amps for the past 45+ years. I'm sure he could help me. So I should remove the amp from the case and take it to him. Anything I should know before doing this? Wiring for testing or anything? I have some cables.

About the silly idea for stereo, There's a guy who plays piano and uses an on-stage setup, whose tech apparently set up 2 suitcase bottoms to be playing in stereo as his amplification. It was wired for him like that, though. I have no idea if it is just the standard suitcase preamp being split and then sent to both cabs (each cab playing stereo) or if the stereo signal is sent to each cabinet and playing one side of the stereo respectively. I'm going to tackle the amp so I'll have 2 of these. But the real challenge would be to get the action and feel better on the suitcase top. Currently I am only using my slightly older suitcase with the 80 watt amp. I think it sounds better, but the keyboard part plays better, so it is difficult to tell. I may switch the front panels and try out the Janus amps and see if there really is a difference. I know they're more powerful, by far..

Maybe. Whatever it is, when you switch it on, is is so loud that you have to turn it off immediately. This is without the top being hooked up to it. Power Supply caps? Cool. That seems like an easy fix. Then I would wonder if you could use 2 bottoms somehow on a stereo setup, perhaps?

I just came across a Janus amp'ed suitcase bottom.. Looks complete. No top with it, and when powered on it makes a strong DC hum noise, so it needs shutting off. Any ideas what the problem may be? I suppose I could get it and my working suitcase bottom and compare the 2.. ?

I would be interested if anyone would care to post a step-by-step example of converting a 73 to a piano bass.. Thanks!

Thanks Fredan, interesting info.. I just saw the RMI on the dvd and assumed he was using that everywhere.. Also Jack's playing Ludwig Drums.. Unique only to that concert, perhaps?  I notice that Chick's playing a concentric knob Rhodes whilst Herbie is playing a later model as you state..(on the interview portion)

I think the 54's suffer from being made in a period when there were a higher number of faulty pickups. And, because they're wired in series, one faulty pickup can make the entire keyboard go silent. If you are handy with a soldering iron and have a multimeter, you should be able to fix it yourself. Sadly it may benefit from a re-wiring so that one bad pickup won't spoil the whole bunch. The store you sent it back to may not be able to prevent a loose soldering joint from happening in transit. Happy Rhodes 54 owners are probably more inclined to open the hood and do some work on their pianos themselves. The rewards can be there, but if you are un-willing to do the work yourself you may want to seek out a 73 model or something..

That's the difference between a true analog signal and the digital signal. When it plays back in stereo, the inadequacies of the digital sound are masked better. A Rhodes sounds better either way because it sounds better in mono. Look at it like this: A guitarist can coax sounds out of the string that the pickup transmits to the amp. Same with the Rhodes. Only the mechanical action played by the player creates a slightly different sound each time it is played. Why else would so many top modern artists still be using their Rhodes Suitcase or Stage models?

Keith plays an RMI Electrapiano on that disc, but later he'd move to the RHodes.. That is a great DVD. Another Kind Of Blue: Miles at the Isle of Wight.. On this dvd Herbie, Chick and Keith as well as a list of others who played with or critiqued Miles weigh in on Miles' Electric Period. My opinion is that this is actually one of the most prolific and fruitful periods of Miles' lengthy career. Personnel changes were frequent from '69 through to when he went into seclusion around '76. Guitar became more important and piano less important as those years went on, and percussion and the beat gained more and more importance--that's a very simplistic statement, though, because there's so much going on there during those years.

On that clip, later in the 8-9 minute mark Chick is playing a solo with the piano through a Ring Modulator.. he starts playing with it a bit more.. But there's that reedy gnarly Rhodes sound you're after..

Hi everyone, a brand new rhodes owner here

Talking about Jarrett, does everybody know  "Ruta and Daitya"? (Jarrett&DeJohnette 1971),to me it's the sweetest rhodes soound and playing ever...

I've got that on vinyl. I'll explore it again! Thanks! BTW I'm a drummer and so Jack is one of my favorite drummers of all time. Keith is one of my favorite pianists of all time too, but I really enjoy his acoustic piano work with his "USA" band from the early-mid 70s: Jarrett, Dewey Redman, Paul Motian, and Charlie Haden. Of course he's not playing a Rhodes.. In fact Jarrett playing the Rhodes is actually pretty rare. I thought it was only with Miles.. So I'll have to dig out that Ruta and Daitya and listen..

BTW Jack can play keyboards very well...

Don't overlook the Ring Modulator. He definitely is using it in part of the songs, and it definitely could create that tingy-sound at certain settings on the Rhodes--and he may be using the wah pedal too, but the Ring Modulator is what gets that thinner tone. And the overdriven sound, my guess is that it is the ring modulator. A fuzz pedal can't shape the sound that much, but it can do some of the same tones. But did you know that a fuzz pedal actually self-oscillates and that is what creates the other tone in a wild fuzz pedal. But that other tone is what a ring modulator does so well. . But he does sound like he's using an Echoplex like pedal as well. If I was to guess I'd say try both. Run them with the echoplex last in the loop and the Ring Modulator first and try quite a few settings. See if you can mimic the sounds. Because he is definitely tweaking his sound. There are too many different tones happening for it to be just the Rhodes and certainly just the Echoplex, although there could be some overdriving of the signal happening with the echoplex.

BTW Black Beauty is incredible. If you don't have that get it now!

Also, this was Chick time, he was more into the experimentation with the Ring Modulator.
Keith, after he was by himself on the Rhodes, didn't really play with the effects that much. But he certainly played some jaw-dropping improvisations!

There's a somewhat-obscured view of Zawinul's setup on the excellent DVD Live at Montreux. I loaned my copy out but will be getting it back soon but I only remember I think he was playing an 88 key, looked like a Stage top. Sitting on top of the Rhodes were 2 ARP 2600 keyboards and to his right what appears to be an Oberheim 4 voice. It sounded like he may have been playing the Rhodes into a Wah pedal. I don't remember if any views of the floor or even below keyboard level were offered on this. I like the EH pedals but my personal favorite is the MXR phase 100.

Keith Jarrett on Miles Davis Cellar Door Sessions.
Chick Corea playing with Miles.
Jan Hammer..
Herbie
Rick Wright
Billy Preston (especially in the Beatles)


These people and many more played some cool music with the Rhodes but honestly the sound of the electric piano, the tonality of the tines amplified and the tremolo system enables anyone to make nice sounds. I like that I'm not a great keyboardist but I can still make nice sounds with it. So my ears are to thank for recognizing the instrument. And still it is nice that you can find them for very reasonable prices.

They're heavy as hell, which is a drag. If they weren't they'd probably be worth twice what they are now or more--think about it--if it was easy to transport them you'd be hearing them with much-greater frequency. But that drawback just adds to the magic and mystery of the bell-like tone. The tone blends well with other instruments, past and present.