The instrument introduced the design that would become common to subsequent Rhodes pianos, with the same tolex body as Fender amplifiers and a fiberglass top. Fender disliked the higher tones of the Pre-Piano, and decided to manufacture a keyboard bass using the bottom 32 notes (E-B), known as the Piano Bass. In 1959, Rhodes entered a joint venture with Leo Fender to manufacture instruments. Rhodes won a service award for his therapy achievements and put an electric model, the Pre-Piano, into production for home use during the late 1940s. From scrapped airplanes, he developed miniature pianos that could be played in bed. īy 1942, Rhodes was in the Army Air Corps, where he created a piano teaching method to provide therapy for soldiers recovering from combat in hospital. He continually refined and updated the design of the instrument up to 1984. Rhodes continued to teach piano throughout his lifetime, and his piano method continues to be taught today. He designed a method that combined classical and jazz music, which became popular across the United States, and led to an hour-long nationally syndicated radio show. He dropped out of the University of Southern California in 1929 to support his family through the Great Depression by full-time teaching. Harold Rhodes started teaching piano when he was 19. Īn early version of the Rhodes piano, used for teaching This means the instrument can easily support a voice performance without overpowering it. According to Benjamin Love of Retro Rentals, an EQ spectrum analysis of the instrument will have a gap where the frequency of a lead vocal can be. The Rhodes has a better sustain, while the Wurlitzer produces significant harmonics when the keys are played hard, giving it a "bite". The instrument has been compared with the Wurlitzer electronic piano, which uses a similar technology, but with the hammers striking metal reeds. Putting the two close together gives a characteristic "bell" sound. Vibrating tines produce a mellower timbre, and the sound changes with the tine's relative position to the pickup. Īlthough the Rhodes functions mechanically like a piano, its sound is very different. This feature is inaccurately labeled " vibrato" (which is a variation in pitch) on some models to be consistent with the labelling on Fender amplifiers. The Suitcase model Rhodes includes a built-in power amplifier and a tremolo feature that bounces the output signal from the piano across two speakers.
Simply hitting tines does not need an external power supply, and a Rhodes will make sound even when not plugged into an amplifier, though like an unplugged electric guitar, the volume level and tone will be diminished. A pickup sits opposite the tine, inducing an electric current from the vibrations like an electric guitar.
The tone generator assembly acts as a tuning fork as the tone bar reinforces and extends the tine's vibrations. Pressing a key results in a hammer striking a thin metal rod called a tine connected to a larger "tone bar". The keyboard's touch and action is designed to be like an acoustic piano. The 73-key model weighs around 130 pounds (59 kg). The Rhodes piano's keyboard is laid out like a traditional acoustic piano, but some models contain 73 keys instead of 88. Problems playing this file? See media help. Although Harold Rhodes died in 2000, the Rhodes piano has since been reissued, and his teaching methods are still in use.Ī Rhodes Mark I played on a tube amplifier (overdriven). In the 1990s, the instrument experienced a resurgence in popularity, resulting in Rhodes re-obtaining the rights to the piano in 1997. In 1987, the company was sold to Roland, which manufactured digital versions of the Rhodes without authorization from Harold Rhodes. It was less used in the 1980s because of competition with polyphonic and digital synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7 and an inconsistent quality control caused by cost-cutting. CBS oversaw mass production of the Rhodes piano in the 1970s, and it was used extensively through the decade, particularly in jazz, pop, and soul music. In 1959, Fender began marketing the Piano Bass, a cut-down version the full-size instrument did not appear until after Fender's sale to CBS in 1965. Development continued after the war and into the following decade. The instrument evolved from Rhodes's attempt to manufacture pianos while teaching recovering soldiers during World War II. The signal is then sent through a cable to an external keyboard amplifier and speaker. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, the hammers strike thin metal tines, which vibrate next to an electromagnetic pickup.
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Line out or DIN connector to external amp / mixing board Fender Electric Instrument Company (1959–65)