Placement of rear, large logo on Suitcase

[sunrunner]

I have noticed that the large logo is placed differently on different Fender Rhodes/Rhodes pianos. 

On my 1973 Suitcase 88, it's placed in the rear center of the piano (not on the speaker).  On other models from around the same era, I've seen it on the top left of the speaker, but not on the top of the piano.  On some, I've even seen it in both places!

Was this something that varied from year to year?  Or from one model to the next?

[Student Rhodes]

I feel like it was much more common to see a Fender Rhodes/Rhodes badge on the cabinet, rather than the center of the piano.   And like you, I've seen an occasional suitcase that had badges on both the piano and the cab.  But I've never really considered that the discrepancies could be era specific.  However, I feel like I've seen all versions of badge placement in both MkI and MkII eras.

I know when I was having my white Suitcase redone, there was consideration about where to place the cab logo.   On both the Sparkle Tops, and the very earliest of the redesigned suitcases (1969 round tops with new cheek blocks etc.,"Mk I" designation), the badge usually sat in a lower corner, as opposed to the top left.   I ended up putting the logo on the lower right, and of course no badge on the front edge of the piano.  But it doesn't matter, because they've faced the wall since the day I brought the piano home.

[Ben Bove]

As Ray mentioned - the 60's Rhodes had them as a solid metal badge in the lower corner of the cabinet.  Not great advertising spot.

Eventually they moved a single Fender Rhodes badge to the top left of the amp cabinet, with no logo on the piano itself.  This would have been early 70s through 1975.

When they switched to the "Rhodes" only badge, this was 2 - one on the cabinet top left, one in the center of piano.  Here are a couple vintage photos from the eras to demonstrate:

1960s, bottom right corner:


Early 1970s, top left cabinet only: