Rhodes Mark I Stage 73

Insert legs, plug into amp, and play. Done.

Loses points for bulkiness, weighs >150lbs.

Velocity-sensitive electric piano with volume and tone control.

I had a 1973 Fender Rhodes Mk I stage piano for five years while playing with a rock band with two guitars.

If you're playing in a band with guitar players plugged into Marshalls or similar style, avoid this piano. The guitars will mask over and cover up the timbre of the rhodes piano. Get a Wurlitzer instead.

Otherwise, the Rhodes has a fine and unique voice for an electric piano. I really liked it in a solo setting and it has been a longtime favorite in jazz and soul, and Radiohead makes some fresh use of it today. If you're not afraid to get under the hood, you can adjust the tine angle and distance between pickup and tine to tailor the sound to your taste. It's not hard.

If you really pound at the keyboard you'll get a nice bark, especially through a tube amp. The Fender Twin was the amp of choice for the classic fusion songs. I was never fond of any suitcase piano amp, they're too muddy. The best sounding amp for Fender Rhodes is a tube Leslie, 122 or 147. I used mine with a Leslie 760 and I loved the animation it gives to the sound. Everybody who's heard Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel like we Do?" has heard the Fender Rhodes through a Leslie cabinet.

Today I still enjoy the Rhodes sound, but one thing keeps me from buying another one; that damned spongy action. When I was playing mine, the action hurt my hands; when I went to sit down at a real piano they hurt worse, and I certainly wasn't out of practice! The keyboard on most rhodes has hollow keys glued to wooden actuators, and it feels terrible. I *have* played a similar rhodes in a store with a good action, and upon closer inspection I found that the keys were solid wood all the way through. So good ones are *out* there.

Rhodes pianos sound good dry or processed. The tone doesn't have a lot of harmonics so wah-wah pedals won't sound good. Try phasers and stereo reverb.

There is a tone difference between the older Fender Rhodes and the Rhodes piano, and this is the culprit: the harp support at each end of the keyboard. Older Fender Rhodes (like mine) have a solid maple block to support the harp, newer ones use extruded aluminum. I've played piano after piano and the tone always falls back on that maple block. The wood allows the tone to resonate to the wood casing, but not as much as the aluminum. For this reason, the older pianos are better for that bark and the newer pianos are better for that bell tine sound.

If you move the piano often, it will go out of tune slightly. I had to touch mine up once a year after regular weekend gigging.

Never broken a tine, electronics are passive and bulletproof.

I love the Rhodes sound, but I don't miss the spongy action. The closest thing I've heard for an accurate Rhodes piano is the Kurzweil 1000PX with sound block A, I think it's standard in successive models (K2000, etc). It's lovely to play from my Kurzweil MIDIBoard.

I just hated the action, it hurt my hand muscles. It's bulky. Distorted guitars mask the sound. I had traded it for a Kustom 88 piano so I could be heard. I don't regret selling the Kustom, but I do regret selling the Rhodes.

There are *really* old Fender Rhodes pianos with the sparkle silver top; stay away from these. They do get a great bark and have a good action (traditional piano hammers as opposed to rubber tip/plastic hammers), but they use an older tine that they have stopped using since 1971. These older Raymack tines don't last as long as the newer Torrington tines, and if you break one you won't find *any* spares. However, spare tines for the newer pianos are not hard to come by. Also, the felt on the old hammers wears easily and dulls the tone. I played a green student's Rhodes with the old hammers still in good shape, and it sounded great. I played a silver top one with worn hammers and it sounded awful. Strictly a collector's piece. You have been warned.

I'd take a Wurlitzer any day for its better action and it fits better into a rock band.

But the Rhodes sound still appeals to me. Just be aware of the thorns in that bed of roses.