Post your Rhodes pics and its story

[Ben Bove]

Hey everybody, noticed there wasn't one here or maybe there is an old one, but starting a thread - post a picture of your Rhodes, and how you came into it ~

my 79 Suitcase88


I bought it locally on ebay here in Los Angeles, from an antiques dealer (mainly in dolls and toys.)  A friend of his found this old keyboard in a theatre that closed, and he was selling it for him online.  I went by to take a look at it, and it was horrendously dirty, but not a mark anywhere on the tolex after 25 years.  Opened it up, out came the original packet with tines, registration card, manual, and cutting guide.  Bought it for $900 US, and just cleaned the tolex with a brush.  Maybe I'll send in the limited warranty card

[Tehu]

is there a wurlitzer 200A on de left side?

[Ben Bove]

yeah, with a Hohner E-7 on top

[jim]

and is that a lamp on the honer?

[jim]

hohner i mean.

[Ben Bove]

yes its pretty dark over there... hey cmon someone else post their baby hahaha.

[Student Rhodes]

I'm new to this "posting" thing.

How do you go about adding an image to your post?
Thanks,
Ray[/img]

[Tehu]

is that hohner pianet T? Well equiped!! what kind of sound it makes? (like rhodes i think, but what are the major differences with these two keyboards?!) i'm interest to get one one day!

[Ben Bove]

how to post a picture:

sign up for an account at www.photobucket.com  you can upload pictures from your computer there, its free.

For every picture, once uploaded, they give you 3 possible links below it.  Highlight and copy/paste the one that starts with    [img].  Just paste that line in your posts here and it will link it to the picture you uploaded on the site.

[Tehu]

There's my 1980(?) Rhodes Mark 1 Stage Piano(lot of work to do), i paid 200$CAN for it 1 months ago. i'll make restoration inside(tuning, adjust..) then outside (brand news hardware, logos etc..) for now he didn't get the perfect sound, but it'll come!! in 4-5 month i'll post other pictures to show  all the work!

[andi85]

my baby:
stage 1976 with a hammond xb-2 on top. got it in good and working condition, only some adjustment and tuning was necessary. maybe i'll make set pickups the pickups in a bit closer during the semester break...but it sounds great already thanks to the yellow channel of my fender hotrod.

[andi85]

the xb-2 is getting new verneer. definitely. the plastic is all gone

[Tehu]

did your rhodes top is a round one? and how many pound is your XB-2 ? 'cause i want to put an other keyboard on the top, but it didn't seems to be really ''tough''!

[Ben Bove]

The Rhodes look great!  Keep them coming!

[Student Rhodes]

Here are some crummy pics of my piano.  I had better ones but I lost my camera before I could download them.  Sometimes, when God opens a window, he slams door.  Anyway, this is my new baby, and I can't play it enough.


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[andi85]

yes, it´s the round top.
the xb-2 is about 15kg (30 pounds??) - no problems at all.
even my roland rd-150 with 22,5kg (45 pounds??) stays where it should, but i´m a bit anxious if the cover itself survives that.

i bought a rubber pad at ikea, which was originally designed for preventing things to move in a drawer. it´s not the stickiest pad on this planet but it helps a bit and protects the cover from scratches.


the student rhodes looks great. ha!

[mixsynth]

This is my Mk1 Stage with VK-8 on top The organ's 4 rubber feet straddle the slight bend in the case making it a very solid rig!

[Ben Bove]

clean looking rhodes!

[andi85]

ha! looks great.
is that a quik lok double-x steel stand?
i have the same - solid as a rock

[BackRoomSounds]

Heres my 1978 Mark I 73, after longing for a while and bidding on ebay I found this one only 15mins up the round from me. I went along and it was all complete, lid, legs & braces, sustain, original cable, handbook and vinyl case for the legs .......RESULT

I then ripped the hell out of it and made it like new inside and out just for the love of it. hehe

see the restoration gallery here http://www.backroomsounds.com/gallery/rhodes/

Heres a clip from a new track of mine featuring this Rhodes http://www.backroomsounds.com/audio/too_late_classic_brs_mix.mp3

[mixsynth]

Yep it's a Quiklok -- one of the four original legs was broken so I had no choice. It can hold something like 120kg (2 people!!)

[andi85]

here comes the funky red tolex again...hey it looks so great, man. incredible.


yeah, the quiklok is great, only damn heavy and fumbly for gigging - that´s why i have another double-x from k&m, which is an alloy model and much lighter, but a bit less stable. anyway, still far from shaky...

[dtrenz]

just picked this 1975 Mk-I up a week ago and it's gorgeous.

got it locally (yay! no shipping) on craigslist for a great deal.

everything looks and works great.

[andi85]

ha! nice light in that room. and a nice piano. have fun with it!!

[Vibe75]

Here is my 1975 Mk1 Rhodes and just for kicks my Whurly to boot.  I got this through a friend that was a teacher.  He said that his school had two Rhodes and that he would just give it to me.  Crazy huh!!!  I got lucky.  Although the Rhodes was in good shape inside, I had to add alot of stuff to the outside.

It only came with three legs so I had a friend make me a leg for it.  I then had to recap two keys because the plastic was gouged off from retarted high school punks.  Finally, I had to buy a sustain pedal for it.  Now it works 100%.

[andi85]

nice rhodes and a nice wurlitzer.

some day i'll get a clav, a wurly and a real hammond with tonewheels.





some day...

[Rendall]

What is it with Americans GIVING AWAY Rhodes pianos......

It makes me sick.......

Enlgish people would rather give their own mother away than a MK1  :shock:

[andi85]

German people, too.
When I see that some people pay 800$ for a good suitcase I just want to cry...

[HammondToby]

So, don't beat me, but I bought one of my Stage MkII on a garage sale and payed 100 Euro in 2001... here in germany. The second was an old, not working liverhodes... I think, I will repair it when I have the time for this.

Best regards
HammondToby

[TaylorGrey]

Don't you just love the action on those old student models??  I just sold one that was 1968, so it was after they took out the vibrato (damnit)....but the action is so much nicer on the student models than any other Rhodes or Fender Rhodes I've played.  Just simple felt hammers.  Sounds great.

-T

[Vibe75]

My friend gave that to me because it was collecting dust in a corner of a band room and he was doing some spring cleaning.  The other Rhodes was being used to stack sheets of music for the high school choir.  I want to go back there and ask for the other Rhodes too!!!!  I was shocked to see a Rhodes just laying there and no one new how important this instrument is.

[james]

I still wonder what happened to the first Stage 73 I played...it was a 1969 Mark I with the all-wood hammers (i.e. heavy as hell), which I found hiding in the tuba closet at my high school.  At the time they probably would've given it to me for $50 or even for free....

[rocksnob]

I bought my Rhodes Mk 1 Stage 73.... Must've been two years ago now, anyways, I bought it used out of a Vintage Guitar Shop in North Calgary, the guy told me that he was selling it for some movie crew that had it refurbished and used at some point in the movie, it was some cowboy movie, he said sometihng about it, said the name, it quickly dropped out of memory. It was in great shape, I love it, use it all the time, got it all tuned up by JL at the Cantos, so it plays like a dream. I never really thought twice about it's being in a movie. That was until a few months ago somebody said a name that sounded familiar in my head, it was the name of the movie my Rhodes was apparantely somewhere in, movie wasn't just about Cowboys, but it was about gay cowboys, the movie was Brokeback Mountain It was used in a bar scene where a live band is playing, among other things, my Rhodes. That's the story behind mine.



(there is now a nice Red Fender Contempo Organ to the right of Rhodes now, they make such a nice pair )

[andi85]

hey...cool.
i had bird food in my rhodes. not exactly so glamourous like a movie, but always good for a laugh

[tjcombs]

Ebay my friends. Bought a rhodes in pretty good condition with pedal and legs for $600. Did a regrom, lubed the felts, cleaned out underneath the keys and everything, polished the keys, washed the tolex, repainted the harp cover and sustain pedal black. Adjusted escapement and pickup placement back to spec followed by a voicing/tuning. Sounds pretty good so far. I'm looking at getting a MKHC or maybe that Crystal preamp in the Amps thread.  I'm thinking about sanding and powdercoating all my hardware. There's a place in town that will do it for pretty cheap.

I bought the rhodes because I love the way they sound and want to learn how to play piano.
So far I think she's a beaut and my learning is coming along well I think!
TJ
xoxo

[tjcombs]

Oh god! Sorry about the massive pictures!
And by the way, I play it through quite possibly the sweetest amp ever.
Smallest peavy in existence. I'm saving up for a Traynor amp that sounds beautiful.

[andi85]

hui...that old FENDER-rhodes namerail drives me crazy everytime i see it.

i like it EVEN BETTER then my '76 mark I namerail

great piano!

[Miguel Tuna]

Great! What year?

[tjcombs]

1972
Mark 1a with wood hammers.

[Miguel Tuna]

Those 1972 models weren't hybrid hood-plastic with replaceable tips yet?

[tjcombs]

Oops, that's what I meant. Sorry!

[jeffwuollet]

Here's my Rhodes pic...

71' Fender Rhodes(Rewired with single conductor monster cable & Neutrik RCA jacks)

I threw some more pics of the studio in the recording section...

[builder]

Hey tjcombs, whats the action like on yours?

[tjcombs]

Well, I haven't played many real pianos, but it seems really responsive. I would say it's pretty light compared to how most people call rhodes "sluggish" or "Heavy". I wouldn't describe it as anything like that. It might be my imagination, but it seems like the lower registers feel the way a normal piano does, and it gets lighter as it goes up the keyboard. Is that normal?

[Tarkus697]

Give me a few weeks and I'll have some pics of my new toy.

My cousin has a groove rock band in NC (he plays guitar and sings) and works in a pawnshop in his spare time between gigs.

He calls me and says that he ended up getting a near-mint (year unknown) Rhodes Mark I Stage 88 complete with legs, crossbraces, and pedal in trade for $100 and a Samick electric guitar.  He said that it's still in tune, as well.  

This is after sitting for many years in storage in a guy's garage.

I can't WAIT to get my hands on that bad boy.

[geronimo]

rocksnob, when are you gonna show us your fender contempo ? now that's what i call a rare bird, you lucky stiff! does it have that steel guitar type stand? I always wanted to hear one of those & play one & most of all own one. my next project is to procure a fender contempo & set it up next to my english vox continental and run them both thru a leslie speaker. I also have a 75' rhodes that i bought cheap & fixed up real nice, with new hammer tips, felts, bushings, and a BBE harmonic clarifier made by McClennan, beautiful sound! will send some pix as soon as i get a digital camera.

[CherryFive]

This Rhodes Mark 1 was made in November/December 1976 (4776-5064). This was my first Rhodes ever, and my uncle had to make a custom crate to ship it in (from CA to CT. With the proper crate, UPS can do no harm really). I'll never forget the day I got off of the school bus (maybe back in 2002?) and literally ran to my house. When I first saw it I couldn't believe how large it was. It seemed really friggin big. And I couldn't believe how poorly the action felt. Horrible, just  a nightmare.  

I was told that the seller had some work done on the piano in 1977, including an exciting custom brown-vinyl job on the outside. The pickups were split so that the first 24 notes were given a dedicated output (a ¼" output is drilled directly over the "R" in Rhodes). The adjustable legs we swapped with non-adjusting legs for "added stability". Many of the mid-range hammer tips were replaced with harder tips (to add a stronger attack).

Unfortunately, none of these modifications translated into a better sounding and playing piano, and when it arrived in 2002, the instrument was suffering from years of serious, major neglect. My first impression of the Rhodes was a very bad one. The action was unbelievably sluggish, the individual pickup volume was completely uneven, multiple pickups were dead, and above all, the sound was not like the Rhodes I cherished. The sound was boring, flat, limp, flaccid. It was quite nasty.

In 2004 I got the courage to do my first "overhaul" and make my Rhodes come to life. If it weren't for the help provided by Steven Hayes and John Della Vecchia (just to name a few), this Rhodes would still be crude and unplayable. I began by soaking every single tine in kerosene and carefully cleaning each one. I replaced all grommets, all hammer tips, re-wired the pickup scheme to a single output, replaced all of the dead pickups, replaced broken tines, and made sure the tone bars were all clean. To help the action, I added the key lift option, which helped individual key articulation and allowed me to do trills. Re-adjusted the damper arms, (arms were bent, but felt was in good shape). I lubed all points of contact. I replaced the balance rail felt and guide pin felt (which by the way, makes the action feel new again. Really makes it nice and soft). I re-adjusted the strike line because it was all out of whack. I re-adjusted the escapement to factory spec, as it had been lowered. The timbre was set to capture the more harmonic sound of the Rhodes tines. I placed the tines as close to the pickups as possible. I did this to help with the lacking sensitivity, and low volume (I know a lot of guys don't like them too close but I like it). Upon removing the wooden keys, I noticed that the first one had the date of "10/20/77" written in pencil – the date when the first "modifications" were performed.

One other thing I did, which by the way happened after these sound samples were done, was remove the keybed felt, thus giving the keys a longer keydip and hammer tips further distance from the tines (there is still some keybed felt/glue remenance so the wooden key isn't actually touching alluminum). The action really isn't sluggish now, and if I had to choose, this was probably the most critical "mod" I performed because now the tines really get whaked hard and they bark loud as a result (sadly I don't have a recording to demonstrate). Well here it is, ugly and brown!





Here are the respective sound samples. Tell me how you think it sounds! It's not perfect. I'll bet a REAL tech would find a number of problems. I don't get to play too many other Rhodes..at all..so I have nothing to judge it against. PS- not very good recordings at all. Quite low and noisy- for the stereo tremelo it's a dunlop TS-2.

http://octavecat.homestead.com/JazzChords1976.mp3

http://octavecat.homestead.com/FastStereoTrem1976.mp3

http://octavecat.homestead.com/MinorchordsReverb1976.mp3

The following sound sample is me going friggin crazy. Actually, what I mean is I was so desparate to get the pre-1975 wood/plastic hammer sound- you know, the "Fender Rhodes" sound, as opposed to the Rhodes. I wen't crazy trying best to get that sound, so what I did was cut small pieces of maple (about 1.3 inches long and however wide the hammer is) and put them directly on the plastic hammer, for about 24 notes. This did make it sound more like a pre-'75. Actually one tech guessed it was a 76' pickup/tine rail on a '74 action, so mission acomplished to a degree. It was impracticle though, but I would like to do something similar again, to get more upper-midrange bite. Warning- sound sample is bad, only this time worse  :oops:

http://octavecat.homestead.com/FenderrhodesSample.mp3  


EXTRA- Here's a photo of another Rhodes I now have, which is an updated 1978 with dyno my piano mods (the 78's with the modified peds). Can't say I've ever seen one before. It sounds good- it's very different than the '76 though. One thing that really bugs me is understanding the keydip. The key dip travel is longer than the '76's was (before I removed the keybed felt) yet the keybed felt is 100% intact on the '78. I have no idea how other to increase keydip without removing keybed felt. To this day I still don't get it. Shim the action rails? It doesn't make any sense. I've looked over both of the pianos in and out, and I can't see any difference, though what I can't see might be my problem.    




Well in any case I hope you had a good read and a good laugh. I've enjoyed reading all of the other submissions. I especially like seeing the "Fender Rhodes" !!

Best Regards

[rocksnob]

rocksnob, when are you gonna show us your fender contempo ? now that's what i call a rare bird, you lucky stiff! does it have that steel guitar type stand? I always wanted to hear one of those & play one & most of all own one. my next project is to procure a fender contempo & set it up next to my english vox continental and run them both thru a leslie speaker.

I'd be pretty happy with an English Connie as well

I actually have two Contempos, though not really, one is a total parts cow (my first and disasterously unsuccesful attempt at buying one, bought it sight unseen, apparantely in :working condition" and when I got it the power supply was trashed, cosmetics s**t, all the oscillating coils were missing! only managed to get a bit of my money back from the bugger, at least I didn't really pay all that much either...). Oh well, I have nearly a full set of parts for the good one in case anything ever happens at least.

The sound was more or less a mystery to me when I bought it, I had briefly played one a few years back, and I had an album from the ONLY band I could find that played one that had an album for sale (The Gardens Faithful, pretty good poppy keyboard centric music if you can look past some of the rather uninspired lyrics), so I had a general idea, but other than that... Sounds really cool I think though, quite thick (puts my old Farfisa VIP 500 to shame). The unit  is in tip top shape other than the fact that the only thing that is missing is the cool Fender legs you mentioned, I have a pair of chrome combo organ legs that work nicely with it, but it's just not the same.... Maybe I could get the metalworking shop near work to bend\weld me a pair from a picture.......

I'll take a few pics of it tomorrow and perhaps if time permits post some nice sound clips of it, drove me crazy the almost total lack of availability of sound clips of any sort on the internet for the Contempo, it's a great sounding and looking beast if I do say so myself

[CherryFive]

Sound samples please!  :lol:

[tasters]

Here is mine 1980 MKII 88:










Buyed for 900 euro here in my city, without tolex and really dirty, but in good mechanical condition.

I've retolexed , cleaned inside and outside, now seems new The only thing i got to add are the handles.

You can listen a test here: http://www.stokkaemadbuddy.com/rhodes/intro.mp3

Not great musician skillz, but the rhodes sound good


Some pics of restoration here: http://www.stokkaemadbuddy.com/rhodes/


bye