Mark II '81 with wooden keys?

[EightyEight]

Hello All,

I can buy a Rhodes Mark II from 1981 with wooden keys.
Now my question is:
Do they even exist or does the seller got it wrong and do they have plastic keys?

I hope you can help me
grtz

[Mark II]

as far as I noticed, the transsition between two models in line was pretty fluid, so a general statement like "a wooden key 1981 Mark II cannot exist" is imho hard to claim.

simple solution for your problem.

ask the seller to open the piano, remove the harp cover and tell the colour of the keys (keybed). when they are black = plastic

plastic keys:


there is the aluminion front rail in the middle of this picture, above that the black keybed. when the keybed is wood-coloured then the rhodes has wooden keys.

if he is reluctant to do so, he might have something to hide, hands off, there are more rhodes out there.

good luck
Mark II

[EightyEight]

thanks fot your fast reply!

i asked him to look at the keybed (like mentioned on the site)
and he said it has wooden keys.

i think he doesnt want to hide something, so i will look him up.

what is a good price for a rhodes mk2 with allmost unscratched tolex, good tines and stuff and undamaged milk-white keys? (in euro's)

ty

[Pale]

if he is reluctant to do so, he might have something to hide, hands off, there are more rhodes out there.

good luck
Mark II

Sometimes people are scared you are going to break something if you open it up. When I was buying a Rhodes I went to check out a Rhodes I found in adds - it was a Mark II, and the seller was a 19-20 year old girl who was using it as a bedroom keyboard for occasional playing. It turns out her father left it when he bailed out on her and her mother, so she really hated the thing and wanted to get rid of it. So, I asked to open it up, but I didn't wait for response ( cos I saw the look on her face, and it was telling no-nooo-hell-no). From outside the Mark II was in good shape - no tears in tolex, no cracked keys. But, when I tried to play it - ugh, awful. Thorough inspection gave this results:totaly out of tune, 6 dead pickups, 2 tines on the way to eternal hunting grounds, one broken. Oh yeah, and the wooden lid was missing!
So, I knew I could repair all that stuff, I was prepared to take it even without the lid - but she wouldn't lower the price. She said 700€ or nothing. So it was nothing,I went home, and I lost 40€  for this magnificent waste of time.( it was a 100km ride ).

[Mark II]

what is a good price for a rhodes mk2 with allmost unscratched tolex, good tines and stuff and undamaged milk-white keys? (in euro's)
ty

mmmh, the prize span for a mark II stage piano in ebay goes from 900 to 1600 euros, depending on its physical state, cosmetics and appendix.
But there is definetly a hype, I would try other resources, local adds, etc.

good luck
Mark II

[EightyEight]

i can buy it locally for 1200 euro's, i guess that wouldn't be bad would it?

[Mark II]

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=2474&start=15

there is definetly a hype with analog gear like old synth and vintage pianos.
I paid 350 euros for mine, the tolex was riped at some places and the legs were missing. and this was 7-8 years ago.
I heared about some patient people who managed to find a rhodes in good shape for around 700 euros.

Mark II

[Pale]

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=2474&start=15

there is definetly a hype with analog gear like old synth and vintage pianos.
I paid 350 euros for mine, the tolex was riped at some places and the legs were missing. and this was 7-8 years ago.
I heared about some patient people who managed to find a rhodes in good shape for around 700 euros.

Mark II

That's me .

[Mark II]

absolutely true. you and some oher folks.  

Mark II

[EightyEight]

I'm looking for a rhodes for 3 months now, one in a good condition, but whenever i find one, the biddings will go to something like 1000 euro's. Even when the tolex is damaged.
Now I found this one, and it looks very good. I guess the supply and demand-thing does the trick again because the prices in the USA are much, much lower. Also eBay germany has got high prices ( i live in holland)

do you know any other place/site i can search for a rhodes?

[Pale]

I'm looking for a rhodes for 3 months now, one in a good condition, but whenever i find one, the biddings will go to something like 1000 euro's. Even when the tolex is damaged.
Now I found this one, and it looks very good. I guess the supply and demand-thing does the trick again because the prices in the USA are much, much lower. Also eBay germany has got high prices ( i live in holland)

do you know any other place/site i can search for a rhodes?

I suggest you try the local adds, something where there are no biddings. You just come, take a look, pay the asked amount and take it home. When I was searching for mine I had a couple of methods: search through all internet add websites in my country, typing in "selling Fender Rhodes" in my own language and searching, searching through music forums ( in my language ) - they usually have a buy/sell baord, searching through newsgroups ( again, in my language ).

It will come up eventually, you just have to be patient.


Also, you shouldn't pay asked amount right away, try to haggle a bit. The guy who sold me mine was asking 1300€ for it, I ( naturally ) refused. I contacted him again after 2 months pretending that I was a new customer ( it was all over e-mail ), and asked about the price. The guy was reluctant to say the price cos he "wasn't into keyboards". At that point I figured there was something fishy there, cos last time that same guy sounded pretty into keyboards, and new his way around the topic. It turned out that wasn't the same guy, the guy that asked 1300€ was this guy's uncle, and he went to Germany on a business trip for 2 months. So I said:" I'll give you 600€, that's the real price....maybe 700€, but only if it's totally mint condition". I lured him Guy naturally said: 700€ it is, this instrument is fabulous blah-blah-blah... I had him right where I wanted him
So I went to his place ( 150km drive ), took a look at it - cosmetically so-so, some ripped tolex, but mechanism was good, tines good, it was even tuned! Lid there, legs there, everything there ( except the braces knob, which I discovered 2 days after the purchase ).
So, bottomline is, you never know what opportunity you might get, you just need to be patient. I basically bought my Rhodes for almost half of the initially asked price.
I just had to wait 2 months for the original owner to go away on a business trip