Rhodes Mark I Stage 73

10 - There are only two knobs - one for tone and one for volume.

10 - Except for tone and volume, no features, just good sounds. Use guitar/effects boxes to color the original sound.

10 - This is the real deal, so what more can I say. Play gentle and you get soft gentle sounds. Play agressive and it makes that raw jazzy phat sound we all know and love. Stick the output of it into an effects unit of some kind and add some phaser and delay and stuff and it sounds even better. But even the basic sound you get when pluging the instrument itself right in a good amp is super.

10 - Never gigged it, did some restoration on it. I had absolutely no
problems getting in touch with professional people who also deal parts and did much of the restoration works on it. ( L'piano in Norway. Very pro and dedicated fellows)! A well taken care of instrument will give you all the rhodes you want. Mines is an early model, 1972, and it sounds and plays great. A little warning afterall, though. If you are not used to dealing with vintage gear, it should be taken in consideration that these types of activities tend to be expensive

You're pretty much on your own in this department. I'd recomend getting in touch with someone in your area that knows and service these types of instruments. It shouldn't be to hard if you live in and/or around a city of some scale. Mine was in a little rough shape when I bought it, hence the price. Some torne tolex here and there, a few broken tines, top cover shows some wear and tear. So I got it tuned and serviced with the fine people at l'piano here in Oslo - Norway, and it play great. Hopefully I'll get the looks in perfect shape also somewhere down the line.

For lovers of electric piano sounds there's the fender/rhodes and the wurlitzers. They both sound great. I prefer the fender/rhodes because of it's high ratings among jazzy/funky musicians like Stevie Wonder/Herbie Hancock/Bob James and so on. Through their records I fell in love with the sound of it. My overall rating of the instrument is superb. It sounds great, it's heavily built, it's got a nice design, and it plays great. You will actually get pretty close with emagic's evp73/88 but then theres also the pride and joy of owning a classic instrument, the feel it's got and how good you'll look playing it.

Doesn't get any easier than a Rhodes! Plug it into an amp and away you go!

It really has no features except it's built in charm and personality. Volume and Bass Boost. I guess you can add the ease of mainting and working on it. So, the features is does have are great!

Since it is a real piano- it plays like one. Now, the touch is pretty spongy compared to an acoustic piano, but it is dynamic- the harder you pound on it the louder it gets. It also has great weighted keys. Each one is a bit different too! You can really pour your soul into a Rhodes! It is great for Rock, fills in lots of space along with the rythumn guitarist! For leads it really needs a powerful amp to soar along with a lead guitarist. But is is still great!

Built like a friggin' tank! I think Jimmy Hoffa is buried in a Rhodes somewhere!

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I bought my first Rhodes in 1981 also for $500. It was a used 1975 Mark I Stage Piano. I gigged with it for a number of years- including full time on the road. It was reliable as hell! But a beast to lug around. I also had digital synths too. In about 1987, back when nobody wanted a Rhodes anymore, I was a moron and sold my Rhodes, and the custom Bassman cabinet and amp I used for it- all for $150! I then used digital synths from then on. However, these all were just pieces of plastic! And, unlike a Les Paul or Strat, when you walked out of the music store with the latest, greates digital wonder, it was worth 75% less than you just paid for it! Sterile too.

About two years ago, I found myself longing for a Rhodes. Of course, the first place I turned to was eBay and the Internet. I thought I could buy one now for maybe $200! Was I in for sticker shock! These beasts are now hip and collectible. Mint ones bring a cool grand! I grew very ill in the stomach! But I searched and decided to concentrate on a 400 mile radius of my home. I didn't want to risk shipping one or pay the expense. I lost out on many a Rhodes for various reasons. Mainly because the prices would climb well over $600 or so for a decent one!

Finally, over Thanksgiving 2003 my ship (or Rhodes) came in. One right here a few miles from me. The irony is, it was missing the screw knob for the legs. And that was the only part I kept from my original Rhodes! So it was meant to be! And I still have one small part of my Rhodes on the new Rhodes. It is a 1977 Mark I Stage. I do miss the "Fender Rhodes" plaque my older one had. This one just says "Rhodes". I figure I will find one on eBay someday and just swap it to make me feel whole again.

On the Rhodes Again!!

Once you get it set up, it's a breeze to use. No need to screw in all the legs and braces -- just get one of those cool, heavy duty "X" brace stands designed to support its 140+ pounds, and you're all set. The sustain pedal rod is adjustable to accommodate various playing heights.
No presets...just one killer electric piano sound adjustable by playing dynamics and via the tone (bass boost) and volume knobs.
Mark 1 Stage 73s vary from unit to unit, depending on extent of play and when the Rhodes was made.

The Stage 73 has 73 notes of polyphony, unless something is broken. Midi retrofits are available via companies like Speakeasy Vintage Music, but this thing sounds so good on its own that I'm not sure layering some lame brass or string patch over it would be a good idea. An ART Tube MP preamp works great to boost the signal; with this preamp you get tube warmth for about $70.00, and have 1/4" and XLR outputs that can be used simultaneously for onstage monitoring and/or PA sends. Major Key, the best-regarded supplier of new and new old stock parts for Rhodes, also sells its harmonic clarifier preamp (built-in, with BBE processing to enhance the sound. Check out the Hughes and Kettner rotosphere, Digitech's stereo phase shifter, or a Motion Sound Pro 3-Tm if you want to vary your sound. In fact, for some real fun, and to get the best Rhodes sound on the planet (in my opinion) do this:
1) Buy an A/B footswitch, a Motion Sound Pro 3-Tm, and a Digitech Hyper Phase 7-Mode Phaser Pedal. Come out of the Rhodes 1/4" jack into an ART Tube MP, then out of the Tube MP into the A/B box input. From there, send the "A" signal out to a Motion Sound Pro 3-Tm, and the "B" signal through the Digitech. Route all Motion Sound and Phase outputs to a mixer like the Tapco 6306. From there, you go to your keyboard combo amp and/or PA system. Now you can have blended phaser and leslie sounds (with "A" and "B" channels both "on"), stereo phaser-only sound (Channel "B" on, Channel "A" off), leslie-only sound (Channel "A" on, Channel "B" off), or just direct sound (Channel "B" (only) on, phaser effect turned off).

This is still one of the most expressive, warm and individual electric pianos out there. The player can vary the overall sound (from muddy/bass-y to bell-like) via action/pickup/tine adjustment (check out the 1979 service manual at www.majorkey.com for tips). The great thing about this instrument is that there is only one sound, but it can vary significantly as the player varies his/her touch and playing technique. True polyphonic aftertouch helps drive incredible feel -- this instrument really reacts when you play it! Some inherent noise (key noise, pickup noise, sustain pedal/rod noise) -- but they contribute to the identity of the instrument, in my opinion.

Mine's 28 years old and it has only ever needed tuning and infrequent action adjustments. It still sounds and looks great. I would use it without hesitation on a gig without a backup -- although I would probably bring a few extra tines, pickups, etc. -- just in case.

Fender's not around anymore, but there are plenty of good resources out there. Start with the Fender Rhodes super site (http://www.fenderrhodes.org/rhodes/supersite/) for background, detailed specs and documentation. Major Key (www.majorkey.com) is the preferred source for parts; Speakeasy Vintage (http://www.speakeasyvintagemusic.com/) is great for high-end, great pre-amps and accessories.

I would definitely buy another Rhodes Mark 1 Stage 73 if this one were lost or stolen. The sound is just incredible, and you can get the suitcase sound these days with all the nice new effects that are out there -- without having the extra weight. Because they aren't making any news ones as of this writing, I would definitely invest in an Anvil-style road case if I was transporting mine frequently.

This keyboard is very easy to use, no presets or MIDI to deal with. It sounds great teamed up with my Hammond and Leslie.

About as simple as they come. Polyphony depends on how many keys you can hold down. I love the action on this keyboard. The only controls are volume and bass adjust which I usually turn down anyways. You can get a brighter sound by tapping into the RCA output directly off the harp.

The sound is simply amazing! The best part is that you can tailor the tines and key escapement to virtually get any sound you want. You can get a nice bell like tone or you can make it sound harder and give it an almost "woody" tone to it. I would reccomend running this keyboard into a tube preamp or such. It gives it a warmer sound and especially sound nice going through my Fender Super Reverb.

I haven't gigged it yet, but I can already tell it will be easier to move than my Hammond and Leslie. Other than tuning it once in awhile, not much can go wrong.

As with most vintage instruments, the best bet is to learn how to repair it your self. People who work on vintage instruments are far and few between so learn to repair it yourself. There are some good tech tips on the Rhodes supersite.

This is by far my most favorite keyboard so far. I have a yamaha S03 with decent samples on it, but you can't beat the real thing of vintage instruments. I'll take the pepsi challenge to any modern synth in terms of sound quality and keyboard action of vintage keyboards.

What Software version?.... What a great question!
When my Rhodes was manufactured in 1977, the only software was woolen jumpers and scarves

Polyphony? It's all dependant on how many fingers you can use at the same time.
Four hands can play with ease.

The only built-in effects are a bass boost (although I rather use it as a bass attenuater)
and a volume control, again, a volume cut.

The keys are connected mechanical hammers, similar to a real wooden piano, but instead of striking strings, they strike small metal 'tines' one for each note and each tine has an electro magnetic coil which generates an analogue tone that goes to an amplifier

As on a real piano, the keys are weighted and are sensitive to pressure, the harder you press, the louder the note.

No electronics here, but it's not intended for that useage. It's an electric piano in every sense of the word

There's only one instrument, and it's very realistic because it's R E A L !!!

100% reliable, no backup needed, it's never let me down in 26 years

never dealt with anyone, never upgraded or repaired, I've even done all the tuning myself

These days I use it for my own pleasure, Yes, I'd replace it if it were stolen
As mentioned before, I bought it in the days prior to midi gear, the only other option at the time was a Wurlitzer, which was cheaper and lighter in weight.

The sound is quite unique, and I have in my studio several modems and keyboards that pretend to reproduce the same sounds (Roland, Alesis and Emu products)
But there's nothing like the original Fender Rhodes either in sound or in feel apart from a piano, but that's another story.

I use a Roland JC 60 amp with the Rhodes, which is quite flexible in producing both clean and funky sounds.

I have used it for composing, but I have to admit that more modern computerised midi systems are easier and more user friendly

Besides the weight, there is no "ease of use" question.

It is what it is, an electic piano. The sound depends upon what amp and effects you utilize.

Rock and Jazz. It reacts extremely well to my mood. I've got some samples that sound similar, but nothing really compares to the real thing.

Death, taxes, and a Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano. Enough said.

Never had to try.

If it were lost or stolen, I most likely would replace it. I've had it for 20+ years, and from what I can acertain, it's worth more now than what I paid for it way back when.
While songwriting, it's my preferred instrument.

Very easy to use.

This is a beast to lug to a gig, but it's a beauty to play. I am always inspired when I play it. I prefer a clean sound, but also like a little distortion. Fooling around w. guitar stomp boxes, various fx, etc can significantly change the timbre, sometimes with good and other times with not-so-good results. I also like the fact you can tune it, but if you're gigging a lot, that can become a chore.

It's so idiomatic, so identifiable that there's not much you have to do in the way of tweaks. The muddiness in the bottom register has a fix (forget what) that you can fit your board with. Also adds a little volume once it's installed. This is the sound I grew up with in terms of jazz fusion of the 70s-80s. (chick, herbie, hampton hawes, george duke, flim and the bbs, etc). It's as unique as the B3.

I've had pretty good luck with mine, but then again, I baby my older boards, and it certainly has seen its share of miles in the back of my car. Nowadays, tho, I only take it out to gigs where I'm playing that style of funk/jazz where it's prominently featured. The rhodes emulations on the newer synths are nice, but like they say' smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

Not any customer support per se, but I have noticed fellow Rhodies are good about sharing resources, parts, and a love for the instrument. Lots of stuff on the web.

The thing about the rhodes is that it is already a "phat" sounding board, and the warmth is augmented by the "bark" of which it's capable. I love this board, and even tho the action is sluggish, it doesn't take too much of an effort to get used to it. The other thing I notice is that you are forced to play a little differently on the Rhodes as opposed to a piano, so it's sort of like a saxophonist who shows a different musical personality on soprano than on tenor or alto. This leads oftentimes to some interesting ideas/motifs that wouldn't ordinarily occur on piano.

The Rhodes doesn't even need to be plugged into an electrical outlet!
Just hook it up like a guitar, set up the legs (& the sustain pedal
if you desire) & play. Only 2 controls - volume & tone.

I don't know how to rate this category. It's a really cool board,
so I don't want to give it a low rating, but because it's such a
simple board, it really doesn't have any "features". One thing I
will note on though: you can custom-set the pickups & tines (tone
source) to your own preferred tonal qualities.

Since it's just an electric piano, you can't "select" other sounds,
but you can get a wide differece in tone simply by how hard you play
the keys versus the volume setting (playing the keys softer reduces
the tone more than it does the volume, so you can play hard to get a
bright sound, or you can turn up & play soft for a mellow sound).
Excellent for a wide variety of music.

Very durable, but if you haul it around a lot, you will have to
re-adjust the pickups & tines fairly often. Tends to get a little
out of tune every few months (tuning is fairly simple, but each
individual key must be tuned, since it's electro-mechanical).
It's also possible to break off a tine if you hit a key way too hard
(although this does not happen often).

I've never needed any customer support, so I cannot comment on this
category.

I would be highly upset to lose this instrument; it's one of the
best keyboards I've ever played. However, I would have to say
that the models with the built-in amp are a little better in my
opinion than the Stage models with legs (like mine); they're a little
easier to set up & have a cool sounding tremolo (not present on the
Stage model). However, the 73 key version is just about the best.
I've owned an 88 key version in the past; it's too big & heavy, & the
54 key model is too limited in range.

You just stick on the legs, find the small hole that the sustain pedal fits in, find a quarter inch jack and off you go. Simple volume and bass control and you start making that distictive sound. It weighs more than a lot, so you need to be fit or have helpful guys in the band if you use it live! It loses points for the weight other wise it would be 10.

It is wonderful to play something without note robbing. I use an original external MXR phaser pedal to give it that sound. I understand that there are retro fits for the volume etc, which are meant to be good, but I have not heard them. For sequencing, you need to use your brain and remember that song!

I have had mine for about 20 years - it does not seem like it! I bought it second hand back in 1981 and took it 600 miles across the UK via public transport! I have not used it live for a long time as I did not have space for it and it was needing tuned and calibrated. I did this all yesterday and I had forgotten how much fun it was to play. Yes the keybord is spongy, I have a weighted 88 note that I use normally, but once you hear the sound nothing else comes close. I have a Kurzweil that I use normally, but you get some much more response from the Stage 73. I had thought about selling it previously, as they are appearing more and more, but I think I am just going to have to make room for it!

As with all types of music, you need to make sonic space for all of the instruments. The lower ranges do get lost on the heavier songs, but with a bit of arranging and the use of playing an octave or so higher it will ring through even the heaviest of sounds.

Where it does win though is in the ballad where the pahser/chorus is used and it is taking the lead.

I have broken a couple of tines over the years and never had a problem getting hold of new ones. It is very easy to set up once you get the hang of it and I usually find only a couple of notes drift over time. The hardest part is the tuning. As you move the small spring, it compresses and then jumps so form being flat it goes sharp but after a few attempts it gets there. Unfortunately, the clubs and pubs that I play in are too small to have multiple keybords as I only have room for s single tiered stand. However, for studio work and indulging in the privacy of the house it is magic.

There still seems to be plenty of places to get help so lets hope it stays that way. Everyone I have delat with has been superb in the UK.

Yesterday when I started using it again for the first time in several years, I started thinking about how much it cost me 20 years ago. However, it was well worth it and has been gigged on numerous occasions. It is a bit of a luxury for me to have it but as mentioned nothing else creates this sound quite in the same way. I think on reflection that I would buy another one although my wife may have other ideas!!

Apart from the weight issue this is an excellent instrument and falls into the classic category where every serious keyboard player should have one in their collection!

Being an electromechanical keyboard, it has only
its natural voice. It is very heavy(150lbs) and difficult
to set up, but you forget about that when you hear it.

Full polyphony. High end of keyboard has decent action
but lower end feels spongy. MIDI? Are you kidding?
Slight amount of noise-don't even think of running it
direct. No vibrato or EQ except for bass boost, which
does not work on my piano.

The back pain encountered in transportation is forgotten when
you hear it. The sound is exactly as you hear in all of the
old records and any attempt I've heard to duplicate its sound
digitally fails miserably. If you want true electric piano
sound you must have this or a Wurly rather than some synth.
I strongly recommend a Small Stone or similar phase pedal
with the Rhodes to get that classic sound, though it also
sounds great dry. The vibrato from the suitcase models is
frustratingly hard to get, but most likely is possible with
two amps and a good pedal.

My Rhodes is functionally pretty good for a 1974 model.
One of the keys near the top sticks occasionally and
some keys are louder than others, but overall it is
a well built and engineered piece that impresses even
non-musicians. Stays in tune quite well.

Fender doesn't even know what an electric piano is
anymore, and not many people seem to want to work on them.
Get a copy of the manual from fenerrhodes.org and work
on it yourself. Major Key in CA has many parts.

I wish something more efficient would come along that
would sound this good, but nothing has. I would replace
with another Rhodes, maybe a Mark II Suitcase 73 with
the vibrato and better action.