Production of new Rhodes Stage 73 MKI tops

[rocksnob]

I am writing to do a little "market research" for the possible production of custom tops for any Stage 73 MKI.

These tops would each be molded from an actual mold of a Stage 73 MKI and made of fiberglass (that may change, but fiberglass provides a good strong smooth product). The tops would then be painted in an array of coulors including the original celeste and other various Rhodes colours; Fiesta Red, Avacado Green, White, etc., replacement black tops and possibly custom paint jobs (though that may not happen). The tops would also have a Seventy-Three logo cut on a CC router table out of polished aluminum.

I am not actually making any tops at this point, I simply want to guage whether It would be worth my while to produce these. How many would be interested in this idea, and what would you be willing to pay for such a thing? Some feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help,
E.D.

[DanTheMan]

I might be interested in such a thing; a white top sounds cool. I have always liked the shape of the MKI tops better anyway. I am not in need of one, but if they were affordable, I might consider getting a different coloured top if they were to come available.
I suppose what you need to do is try to get more of a price range on the cost of these tops.
-Dan

[rocksnob]

I am thinking around 100 dollars as a rough projection for the sale price right now,  but I may use vaccuum molded ABS plastic for the lid which would drive up the price a little bit due to the material costs and procedure. The hundred dolars would cover a single flat colored top, however, a custom top could be made with custom graphics of any sort (high quality digitally printed graphic) a custom top would cost quite a bit more though.

Unfortunately I am still hammering out alot of the costs and labour projections so that price may go up or down depending.
E.D.

[Anonymous]

Hey rocksnob, i am really interested in a new mkI top because mine is totally scratched. Maybe you could send me a p.m. to tell me where you're living because shipping could get really expensive since it's a quite big item. Best Regards, fetz

[djjay]

I would say that shipping is a problem. Where do you live?

Now forgetting that, I would have a look on ebay at the retail price for covers in ok to good state.

The possibility to have it in another color is cool and would definitively make me think, if I ad a mark I (have a mark II).

Maybe contact a few vintage shops to see if they would partner up with you and propose to sell this ... or launch a small survey to their customers.

Finally, what about tops for mark IIs ? After all, they were flat and an advantage for playing concerts with multiple keyboards

[Anonymous]

Mark II tops... they are already being build by Speakeasy ( www.speakeasyvintagemusic.com/rhodesstore.html )... i think 100$ is a price a lot of people would pay. I'm living in Germany. Greetings, fetz

[rocksnob]

I've only got a mark one top to make a mold with, and I am still hammering out this whole construction thing, it's hard work with fiberglass, I wonder if vacuum molding ABS would work better than fiberglass. I live in Alberta Canada, but ground post isn't all that bad (slow, but cheap) and I doubt that an adequetly packaged high impact top would really be damaged in transit. With the problems I have been having, $100 may seem just a tad too low (resin is really expensive, which is why I am looking at molding ABS instead), though I could definitley make money in costom tops with digital print overlays (as I have mentioned, I have at my disposale an eight foot super high-quality digital printer) so I would probably charge a lot more in the production of one of those tops.
E.D.

[Anonymous]

Hey rocksnob, how expensive do you expect it to be ? If you have finished one of the tops, would you be so kind and post a picture of it ? Greetings, fetz