Fender Rhodes Sparkle Top Stage?

[sunking]

Hello!  I have been reading this forum quite a bit the past several days and really enjoyed all the information.  I have always been intrigued by the Rhodes sound.  I'm a piano player but want to learn how to play the Rhodes so I figured the first step was to buy one.

I found a sweet Sparkle top and am having trouble figuring it out.  Of course I need to take some pictures but I just got this thing home and have been playing it for hours.  ok, my hands are finally tired so i'll chicken peck through this post ...

Now I lifted the harp cover (fiberglass, nice fit to the back, sloppy fit to the name plate) painted in silver sparkle with a few cig burns giving some character!

The name plate is polished chrome and attached to a wooden rail.  There is a 1/4 stereo output, tone and volume cap controls with an unused circle hole and small rectangle hole to the right.  it has been rewired to work with a set of leslie 60 speakers (matched pair with master/slave) and stereo vibrato controller attached to the front of the bottom tolex near the left cheek block.

the keys have imprinted numbers under where key rail sits that are not in perfect sequence.  there are spans of consecutive numbering but then some random numbers and keys in the 80s when this is only a 73 key.  obviously these have been collaged together.  cannot get the vintage from the lower keys as suggested in some posts because of this.

raymac tines.  plastic hammer shanks with tear drop felts.  some grooving i might be able to file these out.  two of the felt tear drops are missing and have been subbed with the neoprene stikes.  good dampers.  no sustain pedal or rod to test damper rail but im hoping to get this working.

mostly green pickups.  a few red.  some red (short style) harp brackets making a sloppy look on the top side of the harp.

missing a balance rail key pin for the low note.

there are two plywood plates attached on the bottom of the cab containing leg sockets.  was this converted from a suitcase to a stage?

no harp dates on the top.  have yet to pull it to see if any are on the bottom.  serial number is 73B-08XX

The piano is voiced and tuned and action is pretty cool.  much different than the grand pianos im used to playing.  the sound is ill.  so sick with the leslie 60s stereo tremelo effect.  need to play around with some wah wah and phaser and chorus pedals i have in my guitar collection.  i have a fender twin reverb which i have yet to try with this but i'm betting that will sound pretty sweet too.

anyways, ill take and upload some photos very soon.  just wanted to say hello.  introduce myself.  and see if any of you might help date this piano for me.  i'm wondering if its a 1969 or earlier. 

[sunking]

any idea of the vintage?

[sunking]

need some help with the lowest three notes

[The Real MC]

Well my sparkletop serial is -074X and I figured out it is a 1967 from the speaker codes in the bottom cabinet.  That would make yours 1967 or later.

Do the key pedestals have the bump?  There seems to be a middle period of unknown years where they put bumps on the pedestals which greatly improves the action (mine has them).  The early and later sparkletops did not have the bumps.

Vintage Vibe does have tines and resonators for that vintage, but grab 'em quick as the lowest ones go fast.

Sounds like someone did a LOT of modification to that piano, definitely far from stock.

[The Real MC]

Someone ran this piano through a Leslie - that is a Leslie control bolted by the LH cheek!!!

[sunking]

hey!  thanks for such a quick reply!

it sounds so insane i love it.  yes, that cheek controller works nicely with the leslie 60s i got with the Rhodes today. 

i pulled a few keys and no bump. 

i'm guessing the underside of the harp may help date this piano.  how can one tell the difference between stage and suitcase bottom panels?  did they make stage sparkle tops? 

[AFeastOfFriends]

All sparkletop Rhodes are suitcases. The stage piano wasn't introduced until '70-'71. Suitcases have a thinner, weaker bottom, hence the extra panels for the leg flanges.

[sunking]

sweet! 

is it possible to find a suitcase bottom (or just cabinet for looks) to fit this sparkle top?

[AFeastOfFriends]

You could, but they aren't common. The amps in the bottoms were fragile and died a lot.

If you're handy with tools you could build one, probably for less than you could buy one. There's another thread on here with info for building a silvertop cab.

[sunking]

thanks for your quick reply! 

i'm inspired to build one .. did a search but cannot find the post you mentioned.  I see some posts talking about doing it.. Did anyone build one and post pics and dimensions?

building the suitcase bottom would be a way to get a sustain pedal and make it look correct.  the cabinet width is obvious.  but height would need to correspond to the sustain pedal, lyre and dowels mechanics.  also, i'm unclear how the two attached.  i see i can get some suitcase legs on ebay to complete the look.

[Ben Bove]

Just want to also add - the original preamp was removed from your piano, and stage knob controls were put there in its place.  Hence, the 3rd hole missing a knob, there are only 2 knobs on stages for Tone and Volume while there's Volume, Treble/Bass, and Vibrato controls for suitcase pianos.  The slot on the right of the knobs housed a vibrato instructions badge so nothing really needs to go there if you don't have it.

[The Real MC]

The slot was actually where a rocker switch used to exist on an early preamp design.  This switch enabled the tremolo.  If you look on REALLY early student pianos, you'll see the rocker switch.  I have a 1980s Keyboard magazine with a pic of one of these pianos, will scan it later.

The Jordan preamp in the sparkletops eliminated the rocker switch.  Rather than re-fab new name rails, Fender just put the "Vibrato" label over the open slot.

[Ben Bove]

Would love a pic thanks!

[The Real MC]

Sorry my error - it was not a 1980s issue, it was May 1978

Das Article



Piano Closeup (anyone for an 88-key sparkletop?!?!?)

[Cormac Long]

Anyone know what all those knobs did or was it just a mockup?

[Tim Hodges]

My guess would be and in no order:

Volume
Vibrato speed
Vibrato depth
EQ - High
EQ - Mid
EQ - Low

as for the 7th no idea!

[David Aubke]

is it possible to find a suitcase bottom (or just cabinet for looks) to fit this sparkle top?

Here's somebody selling a Stage piano along with a Suitcase amp cabinet. I suspect the seller doesn't know they don't go together. Perhaps you could convince them to separate the items.

[Tim Hodges]

My guess would be and in no order:

Volume
Vibrato speed
Vibrato depth
EQ - High
EQ - Mid
EQ - Low

as for the 7th no idea!

After thinking a bit more they already had concentric pots available so it seems unlikely they'd split out the vibrato controls across single pots. Hmmm not too sure now!

[The Real MC]

If there is a tube Fender amp inside there the 7th knob could be "Presence"

[sunking]

is it possible to find a suitcase bottom (or just cabinet for looks) to fit this sparkle top?

Here's somebody selling a Stage piano along with a Suitcase amp cabinet. I suspect the seller doesn't know they don't go together. Perhaps you could convince them to separate the items.

SWEET!  Thank you!!!  Will that bottom work with mine?  I just emailed the seller as you suggest to see if he would separate the auction. Looks like it has legs and sustain pedal which is all i'm really interested in.   I'm getting excited!

[David Aubke]

Will that bottom work with mine?

Someone else will have to help you with that. I've never even seen a Suitcase in person.

[David Aubke]

Looks like it has legs and sustain pedal which is all i'm really interested in.

Legs.

I think this may be the top to that Suitcase amp cabinet.

It's a "Rhodes Stewart". I only remember hearing Hammond on Every Picture Tells a Story but, who knows?

[AFeastOfFriends]

I wouldn't recommend buying that cab. For starters, I'm not sure if you can use the MkI cabs as a stand for silvertops due to possible dimensional differences, and second, that thing has had the crap beat out of it. I wouldn't put it beyond possibility that it has structural damage.
And if you were to pull those casters out, they'd leave big scars on the side of the cab. My G101 organ had small casters on the back at one time and they left a heck of a mess, so I can't even imagine what those large casters did to it.
I've also always seen a big part of the silvertop appeal being the cosmetics of it, and I think an ugly cab would really detract from that.

So unless you can get it for cheap, like around $100-$150, I'd pass. You'd otherwise have too much money in a hideous cab that needs retolexing and possible replacement of the grill cloth (I find the black ugly)

[David Aubke]

OK, here's just a suitcase bottom. Looks like speakers but no amp.

[Abraham]

Shadetree this bottom is from a MKI/MKII not suitable for a sparkletop due to different measures

[Fred]

Here's a link to the Sparkletop cab dimensions I posted...

http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=6931.0