1967 woody prototype

[K-man]

Have You seen that?
Coool!
http://mmguitarbar.com/category/for-sale/

[Peter Hayes]

I'm guessing that two different people wrote the date and the numbers. Only one of the sevens has a dash through it.

[Student Rhodes]

One of the more interesting things about this piano is it also has solid flat top keys, rather than the more familiar Pratt-Read keys.  These keys were definitely used on some Sparkle Tops for a brief period.

The face plate on the controls also matches ones found on some of the early gold sparkle Student Model pianos.

Speaking of which...

Take a look at this photo.  I'm not sure of where I got it, but it may have come from Ben's book.  Notice the similarity of these wooden student models to the "prototype". 

I'm going to guesstimate this is from around 1965, based solely on the acoustic tiles on the ceiling.

[K-man]

Student, thanks - it isn't a prototype sorry - its a simply seller fantasy.
anyway
Its a very good looking instrument - woody - like hammond 

[Student Rhodes]

Well, it may or may not be a prototype...
That photo has an aura of suspicion in that I've never read or heard about any wood Student Models.  Even the gold sparkle student models are kind of forgotten.   

I may be talking out my ass, but that photo could very well be a staged Fender publicity shot for a non-existent, or proposed line of products, much like the beige/tweed(?) Rhodes 73 with red harp cover we've all seen on that infamous 62 (or was it '64?) catalogue, and in the film "Ray."

Does anyone have any confirmation that wood cased Rhodes pianos like these the ever existed in the commercial market?

Ray

[Ben Bove]

I've seen this piano before, and we can't really make definitive rulings on it but can get a pretty close idea by real example.  To my eye as Ray mentioned - its probably an actual piano from the archive photo above, which does make it quite rare - not specifically as a single "prototype" per se, but assuming it's 1 of 15 of these type of initial student pianos pictured.  The cabinet is definitely identical in design to the photo.  In today's world though, I'm sure there aren't 15 remaining and possibly only a couple, or this one, still exist.  However, there definitely were at least 15 cabinets / pianos manufactured to take this archive photo so they went somewhere (including the dump).  It's difficult to say if the alterations were by Fender in the factory, that seems like a longshot to me and most likely done by a previous owner looking to modify the piano to work with a missing speaker cabinet (XLR jack not pictured, stage legs etc).  By the archive photo and the nature of making it a veneered wood cabinet, I'm assuming it was to mimic an acoustic spinet design to have a lower cabinet and not be a stage piano.  I don't think these facts detract from the value at all, but it's more likely to be the earliest student model test run than a Fender lab rat.  It's still very unique.

To help date it by parts... the gold student came out in at least 1966 but possibly 1965, and this might've been an initial "prototype" run of the student concept in 1965.  Ray noted the flat keycaps, which similarly were available on the earliest run of Silvertop pianos from 1965.  Fender would've been using the same keybed vendor as these silvertop pianos, so dating this student model keybed would be correct around 1964 (when the keybeds were manufactured) for early 1965 Rhodes pianos.  The pickups as well are the absolute earliest design on a 73 model with the long back tabs, which again would date around 1965.  It's interesting that there's a 1967 date written on it, the parts aren't consistent with that except perhaps the Jordan preamp serial which isn't an initial run. 

[Student Rhodes]

However, there definitely were at least 12 cabinets / pianos manufactured to take this archive photo so they went somewhere (including the dump).

I count 15 pianos, but that just illustrates how hard it is to get any exact info on these things. However, as pointed out by the distinct grain in the accoustic tiles on the ceiling, this can be no earlier than 1965, unless...

Unless the tiles on the ceiling are prototypes too?! 

I hadn't considered that.   These pianos could be from earlier than we'd ever thought!

Humbly,
Ray

[Ben Bove]

Haha yes 15 pianos - you're right and I totally miscounted on the right side.  Also looking back at the photo, the preamp pictured does not have a gold faceplate.  So, the example above could've had a preamp replaced from the gold series if it failed.  Which would explain a later serial date on the preamp, and sort of 'mismatched' gold faceplate.

[kphlx2000]

Early rare 60's Fender Rhodes Student/Instructor Piano and 88 note model.

[Student Rhodes]

These photos are amazing, Kenneth.  Are we talking '66?
Do you own this piano?  I figured if anyone did, you'd have one.
What do we know about the amp section?  Speaker configuration?
Any info would be priceless.

[Ben Bove]

The picture of the 88 is amazing, and makes a lot of sense.  Pete Jolly had made a comment once about "Harold going around with his 88 piano in the very early days, it was all wood" and I had no idea what he was referring to.  This is obviously that.  Very cool!

I'd be curious to look up Esquivel albums from 1964-1966 and hear if he gets into the 88 register.  We have a picture of him at a sparkle top 73 in the book but an 88 would be very telling.

[Student Rhodes]

Good eyes, Ben.  I didn't even catch that Esquivel's was an Eighty-Eight model, in either the photos or Kenneth's description (DUH...)

And the Instructor Model has four speakers, to boot.  Though this particular unit seems to be missing a couple of speakers, as it looks like daylight is shining through the grill cloth.  I'm guessing the amp would be the same Jordan set up as in a Sparkle Top, no?

The 88 has a rather interesting lower half.  On the left side there seems to be a large panel for perhaps the amp? This thing must have weighed a ton! I'm going to guess that the second pedal on the Eighty-Eight is on/off for the Jordan trem, or depending on the amp inside, perhaps reverb?

So we're thinking these are from somewhere between '64, and '66, since the gold sparkle student models were from 66-ish, correct?

It's amazing that these things were out there, but it seems almost no one in the Rhodes history knew or said much about them.  Again, I wonder if these were merely functional prototypes for marketing piano systems to schools, or if they were ever actually installed as such?