Rhodes piano
Encyclopedia
The Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano
, invented by Harold Rhodes
during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS
.
As a member of the electrophone sub-group of percussion instrument
s, it employs a piano-like keyboard with hammers that hit small metal tines, amplified by electromagnetic pickups. A 2001 New York Times article described the instrument as "a pianistic counterpart to the electric guitar" having a "shimmering, ethereal sound."
The Rhodes piano was used extensively throughout the 1970s in rock and jazz fusion settings. It fell out of fashion in the 1980's, principally due to the emergence of affordable electronic keyboards. It enjoyed a resurgence of popularity beginning in the 1990s — with contemporary artists highlighting the instrument, including Portishead, D'Angelo
, Erykah Badu
, Chick Corea
, Jamiroquai
, Herbie Hancock
, Steely Dan
and Stevie Wonder
.
In the late 1960s, along with other electric pianos from Wurlitzer
and Baldwin
, the Rhodes piano had allowed music classes to incorporate the piano for the first time — with earphones enabling multiple students in the same room to effectively learn the instrument without disturbing each other.
The last model, the MkV, was released in 1984, when the factory in Fullerton was closed. Rhodes Music Corporation re-introduced the instrument in 2007.
during World War II in an effort to create a piano that injured soldiers could play while lying in a hospital bed. Rhodes built the first model in 1942, a 29-note keyboard using aluminum tubing from a B-17 bomber aircraft.
The Air Force asked Rhodes to write a training manual and draw blueprints of what came to be known as the Army Air Corps piano, so soldiers could make their own. Also called a "Xylette," thousands of the rudimentary models were built.
1946-1965: Harold Rhodes subsequently founded The Rhodes Piano Corporation and introduced the Pre-Piano at NAMM 1946
. In 1959, Rhodes entered a joint venture with Leo Fender
to manufacture the instruments under a company named Fender & Rhodes. The partnership lasted for six years with the model marketed as the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, a 32-note version with only the low range of the piano, accounting for the bulk of the sales. The Fender Rhodes Celeste was a similar keyboard covering the midrange of the piano, and electric pianos with tube amplifiers were prototyped at the time. The Piano 73 would become known as the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, with an amplifier cabinet used as a base for supporting the piano keyboard.
1965-1984: CBS
purchased the Fender company in 1965, and offered Rhodes a release from his Fender agreement. Rhodes stayed with CBS, with the company first offering the full 73-note Suitcase model, in addition to the Piano Bass and the Celeste. In 1969 the 73-note Mark I Stage Piano was introduced as a one-piece alternative to the Suitcase style, featuring 4 detachable legs (used in Fender steel pedal guitars), a sustain pedal with an adjustable pushrod (the main component in a Rogers hi-hat) and a single output (mislabeled INPUT) for use with an outboard guitar cabinet or other source of amplification. The Fender Twin Reverb was the amplifier shown in catalogs as the cabinet of choice for the Stage Piano, and many Rhodes players rely on that particular 2 x 12" tube amp to get the classic tone. 1970 saw the release of an 88-key Suitcase Piano, and improvements in both the piano action and tone generator life were made a priority. In 1975 the decision was made to drop Fender from the name for marketing purposes. Production in the 16-year CBS period reached as high as 50 units per day around 1978-79, but sales declined as 1980 approached, and the Mark II Stage Piano was introduced in an attempt to revitalize the product. Production ended in 1984, with the Rhodes Mark V being the final CBS model. No records exists on how many pianos were produced in total by the time CBS Musical Instruments ceased production. Harold Rhodes himself never kept any records of production, but during the 70's it might have reached ten thousand instruments each year.
1987-1991: Roland
acquired the Rhodes trademark from CBS for $20,000 in 1987. They manufactured only two digital piano model, MK-80 (88key) and MK-60 (64key), using S/A Synthesis method and weighted action, but the sound of the Roland piano disgusted Harold Rhodes.
1997: Harold Rhodes re-acquired the Rhodes trademark to re-issue the original mechanical Rhodes piano, but he died in December 2000.
2007: In 2007, a re-formed Rhodes Music Corporation introduced a reproduction of the original electric piano called the Rhodes Mark 7. This was a version of the Rhodes housed in a molded plastic housing, most similar to the CBS Rhodes Mark V in terms of style and mechanics. Total sales of this specific piano have not been disclosed.
takeover of Fender in 1965. Shortly afterwards the 73-key Fender Rhodes Electric Piano went into production.
The '60s also saw the Fender Rhodes Celeste, the Student/Instructor models and systems as well as the very rare Domestic models. In 1970 the more portable Mk I Stage model was added to the range as well as the two 88-key Stage and Suitcase models. The Suitcase models included a built in pre-amp with the famous Stereo-Vibrato, plus a cabinet with stereo amplifier and speakers. In 1980, a 54-key Stage model was also produced.
The Rhodes went through continuous internal improvements: the hammers became all plastic, the pedestals changed shape (and were bare for a short while, the felt was on the underside of the hammer), the pickups were altered, and the tine structure modified to endure more wear. The Mk II model was introduced in late 1979.
Also manufactured for a brief period was the Rhodes Mk III EK-10 which had analog oscillators and filters alongside the existing electromechanical elements. The overall effect was that of a Rhodes piano and a synthesizer
being played simultaneously. Compared with the new polyphonic synthesizers being marketed at the same time it was limited in scope and sound, and very few units were sold.
The final classic Rhodes was the Mk V, introduced in 1984. Among other improvements, it had a lighter body and all new action with an improved cam, increasing the hammer stroke by 23%. With competition from digital and polyphonic synthesizers and the introduction of MIDI, production of Rhodes instruments ended in late 1984.
A new Rhodes Mark 7 was introduced at NAMM 2007
and Musik Messe 2007
, featuring the same electromechanical design as the original instrument, but with a new futuristic look and number of changes.
, with a stiff wire (called a "tine"), struck by a felt-tipped (neoprene rubber-tipped after 1970) hammer, acting as one side of the tuning fork, and a counterbalancing resonating tone bar above the tine acting as the other side. This tone generator kit's vibrations are then picked up by an electromagnetic pickup (one for each tine), and amplified. The pickups' output is fed through a volume and a tone potentiometer on the namerail, and then to an output for external amplification.
The sound produced has a bell-like character not unlike a vibraphone
, celesta
or glockenspiel
. Because the instrument produces sound electrically, the signal can be processed to yield many different timbral colors. On the Suitcase model the signal is processed through a "StereoVibrato", a low-frequency pan oscillation (actually a tremolo, but Leo Fender insisted on calling it vibrato, like on his amplifiers) effects unit
, which pans the signal back and forth between right and left channels. It is this "rounded" or chiming sound that is called the classic Rhodes sound, which can be heard on, for example, many of Stevie Wonder
's or Herbie Hancock
's songs. The preamp with vibrato was included on the original Fender Rhodes Electric Pianos and after 1970 (with stereo panning) on the "suitcase" models; the "stage" models lack the preamp and the amplified speaker cabinet, but can be retrofitted.
During the 1980s a set of Rhodes modifications done by a company called "Dyno My Piano" became popular, inspired by one particular and very famous rental piano in L.A., the E-Rhodes, which can be heard on many records from that time. The modifications made the sound brighter, harder, and more bell-like, bringing out more of the attack in the Rhodes sound and making it cut through a mix like a grand piano. For instance, when notes are played forcefully, the sound becomes less sweet, as nonlinear distortion
creates a characteristic "growling" or "snarling", called "bark" by pianists. Skilled players can contrast the sweet and rough sounds to create an extremely expressive performance. This sound was emulated by the Yamaha DX7
with a patch that was enormously popular during the 80's (see DX7 Rhodes). Rhodes pianos have been used by indie music artists such as Warm Ghost
and BOBBY
to achieve "layered electronic effects".
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, invented by Harold Rhodes
Harold Rhodes
Harold Rhodes was the inventor of the Army Air Corps Piano, the Pre-piano and the Rhodes piano. Rhodes started his career by running piano schools around the United States.-External links:* * * *...
during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.
As a member of the electrophone sub-group of percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
s, it employs a piano-like keyboard with hammers that hit small metal tines, amplified by electromagnetic pickups. A 2001 New York Times article described the instrument as "a pianistic counterpart to the electric guitar" having a "shimmering, ethereal sound."
The Rhodes piano was used extensively throughout the 1970s in rock and jazz fusion settings. It fell out of fashion in the 1980's, principally due to the emergence of affordable electronic keyboards. It enjoyed a resurgence of popularity beginning in the 1990s — with contemporary artists highlighting the instrument, including Portishead, D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
, Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
, Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies. Other Acid Jazz artists such as...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
and Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
.
In the late 1960s, along with other electric pianos from Wurlitzer
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
and Baldwin
Baldwin Piano Company
The Baldwin Piano Company was the largest US-based manufacturer of keyboard instruments, most notably pianos. It remains a subsidiary of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, although it ceased domestic production of pianos in December 2008.-History:...
, the Rhodes piano had allowed music classes to incorporate the piano for the first time — with earphones enabling multiple students in the same room to effectively learn the instrument without disturbing each other.
The last model, the MkV, was released in 1984, when the factory in Fullerton was closed. Rhodes Music Corporation re-introduced the instrument in 2007.
History
WWII: The Army Air Corps piano was an acoustic instrument invented by Harold RhodesHarold Rhodes
Harold Rhodes was the inventor of the Army Air Corps Piano, the Pre-piano and the Rhodes piano. Rhodes started his career by running piano schools around the United States.-External links:* * * *...
during World War II in an effort to create a piano that injured soldiers could play while lying in a hospital bed. Rhodes built the first model in 1942, a 29-note keyboard using aluminum tubing from a B-17 bomber aircraft.
The Air Force asked Rhodes to write a training manual and draw blueprints of what came to be known as the Army Air Corps piano, so soldiers could make their own. Also called a "Xylette," thousands of the rudimentary models were built.
1946-1965: Harold Rhodes subsequently founded The Rhodes Piano Corporation and introduced the Pre-Piano at NAMM 1946
NAMM Show
The NAMM Show is one of the largest music product trade shows in the world, founded in 1901. It is held every January in Anaheim, California, USA, at the Anaheim Convention Center...
. In 1959, Rhodes entered a joint venture with Leo Fender
Leo Fender
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short...
to manufacture the instruments under a company named Fender & Rhodes. The partnership lasted for six years with the model marketed as the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, a 32-note version with only the low range of the piano, accounting for the bulk of the sales. The Fender Rhodes Celeste was a similar keyboard covering the midrange of the piano, and electric pianos with tube amplifiers were prototyped at the time. The Piano 73 would become known as the Fender Rhodes Electric Piano, with an amplifier cabinet used as a base for supporting the piano keyboard.
1965-1984: CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
purchased the Fender company in 1965, and offered Rhodes a release from his Fender agreement. Rhodes stayed with CBS, with the company first offering the full 73-note Suitcase model, in addition to the Piano Bass and the Celeste. In 1969 the 73-note Mark I Stage Piano was introduced as a one-piece alternative to the Suitcase style, featuring 4 detachable legs (used in Fender steel pedal guitars), a sustain pedal with an adjustable pushrod (the main component in a Rogers hi-hat) and a single output (mislabeled INPUT) for use with an outboard guitar cabinet or other source of amplification. The Fender Twin Reverb was the amplifier shown in catalogs as the cabinet of choice for the Stage Piano, and many Rhodes players rely on that particular 2 x 12" tube amp to get the classic tone. 1970 saw the release of an 88-key Suitcase Piano, and improvements in both the piano action and tone generator life were made a priority. In 1975 the decision was made to drop Fender from the name for marketing purposes. Production in the 16-year CBS period reached as high as 50 units per day around 1978-79, but sales declined as 1980 approached, and the Mark II Stage Piano was introduced in an attempt to revitalize the product. Production ended in 1984, with the Rhodes Mark V being the final CBS model. No records exists on how many pianos were produced in total by the time CBS Musical Instruments ceased production. Harold Rhodes himself never kept any records of production, but during the 70's it might have reached ten thousand instruments each year.
1987-1991: Roland
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
acquired the Rhodes trademark from CBS for $20,000 in 1987. They manufactured only two digital piano model, MK-80 (88key) and MK-60 (64key), using S/A Synthesis method and weighted action, but the sound of the Roland piano disgusted Harold Rhodes.
1997: Harold Rhodes re-acquired the Rhodes trademark to re-issue the original mechanical Rhodes piano, but he died in December 2000.
2007: In 2007, a re-formed Rhodes Music Corporation introduced a reproduction of the original electric piano called the Rhodes Mark 7. This was a version of the Rhodes housed in a molded plastic housing, most similar to the CBS Rhodes Mark V in terms of style and mechanics. Total sales of this specific piano have not been disclosed.
Models
The first Fender Rhodes product was the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, a 32-key model. No other models were mass-produced until after the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
takeover of Fender in 1965. Shortly afterwards the 73-key Fender Rhodes Electric Piano went into production.
The '60s also saw the Fender Rhodes Celeste, the Student/Instructor models and systems as well as the very rare Domestic models. In 1970 the more portable Mk I Stage model was added to the range as well as the two 88-key Stage and Suitcase models. The Suitcase models included a built in pre-amp with the famous Stereo-Vibrato, plus a cabinet with stereo amplifier and speakers. In 1980, a 54-key Stage model was also produced.
The Rhodes went through continuous internal improvements: the hammers became all plastic, the pedestals changed shape (and were bare for a short while, the felt was on the underside of the hammer), the pickups were altered, and the tine structure modified to endure more wear. The Mk II model was introduced in late 1979.
Also manufactured for a brief period was the Rhodes Mk III EK-10 which had analog oscillators and filters alongside the existing electromechanical elements. The overall effect was that of a Rhodes piano and a synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
being played simultaneously. Compared with the new polyphonic synthesizers being marketed at the same time it was limited in scope and sound, and very few units were sold.
The final classic Rhodes was the Mk V, introduced in 1984. Among other improvements, it had a lighter body and all new action with an improved cam, increasing the hammer stroke by 23%. With competition from digital and polyphonic synthesizers and the introduction of MIDI, production of Rhodes instruments ended in late 1984.
A new Rhodes Mark 7 was introduced at NAMM 2007
NAMM Show
The NAMM Show is one of the largest music product trade shows in the world, founded in 1901. It is held every January in Anaheim, California, USA, at the Anaheim Convention Center...
and Musik Messe 2007
Musik Messe
The Musik Messe held each year in Frankfurt is Europe's largest trade show for musical instruments, lighting, recording and sound reinforcement equipment. Generally held in early March, the Musik Messe and the NAMM shows are where the world's manufacturers announce and show their new...
, featuring the same electromechanical design as the original instrument, but with a new futuristic look and number of changes.
Sound-producing mechanism
The Rhodes piano's tone-generating principles are derived from the concept of an asymmetrical tuning forkTuning fork
A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal . It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone after waiting a...
, with a stiff wire (called a "tine"), struck by a felt-tipped (neoprene rubber-tipped after 1970) hammer, acting as one side of the tuning fork, and a counterbalancing resonating tone bar above the tine acting as the other side. This tone generator kit's vibrations are then picked up by an electromagnetic pickup (one for each tine), and amplified. The pickups' output is fed through a volume and a tone potentiometer on the namerail, and then to an output for external amplification.
The sound produced has a bell-like character not unlike a vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, celesta
Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
or glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
. Because the instrument produces sound electrically, the signal can be processed to yield many different timbral colors. On the Suitcase model the signal is processed through a "StereoVibrato", a low-frequency pan oscillation (actually a tremolo, but Leo Fender insisted on calling it vibrato, like on his amplifiers) effects unit
Effects unit
Effects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...
, which pans the signal back and forth between right and left channels. It is this "rounded" or chiming sound that is called the classic Rhodes sound, which can be heard on, for example, many of Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's or Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
's songs. The preamp with vibrato was included on the original Fender Rhodes Electric Pianos and after 1970 (with stereo panning) on the "suitcase" models; the "stage" models lack the preamp and the amplified speaker cabinet, but can be retrofitted.
During the 1980s a set of Rhodes modifications done by a company called "Dyno My Piano" became popular, inspired by one particular and very famous rental piano in L.A., the E-Rhodes, which can be heard on many records from that time. The modifications made the sound brighter, harder, and more bell-like, bringing out more of the attack in the Rhodes sound and making it cut through a mix like a grand piano. For instance, when notes are played forcefully, the sound becomes less sweet, as nonlinear distortion
Nonlinear distortion
Nonlinear distortion is a term used to describe the phenomenon of a non-linear relationship between the "input" and "output" signals of - for example - an electronic device.-Model:...
creates a characteristic "growling" or "snarling", called "bark" by pianists. Skilled players can contrast the sweet and rough sounds to create an extremely expressive performance. This sound was emulated by the Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DX7
The Yamaha DX7 is an FM Digital Synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986. It was the first commercially successful digital synthesizer. Its distinctive sound can be heard on many recordings, especially Pop music from the 1980s...
with a patch that was enormously popular during the 80's (see DX7 Rhodes). Rhodes pianos have been used by indie music artists such as Warm Ghost
Warm Ghost
Warm Ghost is an American alternative music group based on the multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan who specializes in eclectic sounds from a variety of music genres and who has a background is sound design. Duncan teamed with Oliver Chapoy and records music under the moniker Warm Ghost in 2011...
and BOBBY
BOBBY (band)
BOBBY is a cooperative musical project based on the talents of musicians from Partisan Records and Knitting Factory Records which is notable for achieving an avant garde alternative sound using polyrhythm as well as achieving critical acclaim before releasing their first album entitled Bobby...
to achieve "layered electronic effects".
See also
- Electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
- Wurlitzer electric pianoWurlitzer electric pianoWurlitzer 200A|250px|thumbThe Wurlitzer electric piano was one of a series of electromechanical stringless pianos manufactured and marketed by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Corinth, Mississippi, U.S. and Tonawanda, New York...
- Keyboard bassKeyboard bassThe keyboard bass is the use of a low-pitched keyboard or pedal keyboard to substitute for the bass guitar or double bass in popular music.-1960s:The earliest keyboard bass instrument was the 1960 Fender Rhodes piano bass, pictured above...
- DX7 Rhodes, a synthetic Fender Rhodes emulation
External links
- The Rhodes Super Site – The dedicated website since 1996.
- Rhodes Music Corporation - The new Mark 7 manufacturer's website.
- Video highlighting the Rhodes Piano sound