What Happened To The Rhodes MK IV Prototype?

[Tim Hodges]

Whatever happened to the Rhodes MK IV prototype?



Has somebody got it or is it MIA?

T

[james]

I've wondered the same thing. You'd hope that Mike Peterson has it safely guarded in his home somewhere...

[Ben Bove]

Mike had told me that it was last with the old R&D department.  

He suggested however, it may have been scrapped as Fender was trying to rebuild its name and didn't want prospective projects that were not approved for production to leak out and jeopardize the name.

So could have been scrapped, with the chance of someone taking it out before that happened.

[MikePeterson]

Duh...Idunno...

When I left the company, it remained in the R&D lab.

Immediately after I left, the Rhodes and Rogers divisions were closed and the new Fender company moved out of the Fullerton plant.

The Fullerton plant was very very large, and the move was probably a bit chaotic.

I have little hope that the prototype survived.

I wish it did...it belongs in a museum.

[Tim Hodges]

I have little hope that the prototype survived.

I wish it did...it belongs in a museum.

I agree, it looks absolutely fantastic, fingers crossed it'll pop up sometime.

[qlyde1973stage]

Duh...Idunno...

When I left the company, it remained in the R&D lab.

Immediately after I left, the Rhodes and Rogers divisions were closed and the new Fender company moved out of the Fullerton plant.

The Fullerton plant was very very large, and the move was probably a bit chaotic.

I have little hope that the prototype survived.

I wish it did...it belongs in a museum.

2021, Vintage Vibe thriving, Valente Electric Pianos are here, Rhodes resurrected for the MK8.. still lots of young guys like me buying old MK1's and MK2's for restoration and getting heavy use. Why wouldn't we considering building the Peterson 4 Electric Piano?

I'm sure with your history & reputation, you would have a small extremely loyal customer base regardless of the price, and over time you could work on building a more accessibly priced piano. I understand there may be some sort of non complete clause or NDA around your past work but there's got to be a way if there was enough drive to make it happen, considering how identical some of these modern electric pianos are to the pianos they're based on.

The Peterson 4.. kind of rolls of the tongue, I can see it now with those beautiful wood sides.

Just food for thought

[chigalihape]

Hi,

even though it was a proto, the design on the photo is very nice.

the guys @CLFResearch may have some informations ?