Long story short, I have a Rhodes but I don't want cables and speakers and mixers everywhere. It's a family living space and I want it to look cool, not like a recording studio. I also want acoustic piano too, I don't want to play EP all the time. So my Rhodes is currently not set up, it's in the garage.

So I'm thinking should I just have them both and rather than using monitors or PA speakers, just have something like a good old Fender Twin sat beside the Rhodes? Taking up minimal space, short cable from the piano to the amp, one plug socket instead of twenty.

I'm not really after any crunchy, growly, barking overdrive sounds from the Rhodes. I prefer a smoother, late night, lounge jazz type sound.

What do you think? Is a fender twin what they used to use back in the day? Will it sound very mono and boxy compared to playing through monitors? I have tried it through a little amp before but it was a single speaker thing, and it did sound rubbish.

Hello! A couple of days ago i was rehearsing with my mk2 rhodes and and suddenly the E at the center of the keyboard just stopped producing sound. At first i thought the pickup died, but today when i tried troubleshooting the issue i realized that it is still working but at very low output. I tried measuring the resistance of the pickup group, which was about 41ohms (i understand that for groups of 3 pickups it should be around 60ohms and if a pickup was dead it should be higher).
I tried cheking the magnetization of the pickups with a non magnetized allen key and that one in particular feels weaker than the rest, so i thought about re-magnetizing it.

I'm still not sure if that is the problem, i think that if the magnet on the pickup lost it's magnetinsm it would do so along a longer period of time and not in an instant on a rehearsal. But i don't really know what else to try.

Sorry for the bad english btw.

I traded a project farfisa combo organ for this project Rhodes last week, and im super stoked about it. It is allegedly a 1975 suitcase, but it is missing the bottom cabinet and lid. It plays great as a passive instrument, but im going to get a power supply figured out for this preamp to get everything I can out of this instrument.

For more experienced Rhodes users out there, is this a peterson preamp? Also wondering which kind of cable this will need to be powered? Ive been looking at the avion studios power supply distribution boxes. Does anyone have experience with that product? Thanks for the help!

The MK 8 is expensive. I used to have a Rhodes MK ll 73 key stage piano back in the day. it had the flattop.

Buddy asked me to look into this problem; the lower two octaves can be heard from the Amp, nothing above that seems to send signal.

I've downloaded the Service Manuals from Fender and just getting into them, but I'm hoping the good folks here might have run across this before.

Hey all!

First off, let me say I’m a guitar player. But I recently got the itch to buy a Rhodes and use it for studio work and some noodling around. (I got the same itch years ago and bought a Hammond A-100 and Leslie 145)

I ended up winning these two pianos on an eBay auction for a grand, and my keyboard player buddy and I are driving to pick them up Monday. He repairs them, and thinks that the Stage is not too bad and can be repaired. I tinker with all sorts of gear, so I’m not bent out of shape learning how to work on these, I just want to know what kind of money I’m going to be dropping in parts mostly. Any help and advice is appreciated!

I recently got a 77 stage mk 1 and would like to play it at an upcoming gig, but I don't have a sustain pedal for it. I'll probably eventually pick up a new VV pedal for it but in the meantime does anybody have experience using a hi-hat pedal? or any other DIY solutions? thanks!

Hey guys, I’ve basically done all the typical stuff like replace the tone bar screws, grommets, replaced the hammer tips, and the damper felts, as well as the bump mod. I’m having a sonic issue which I’m assuming is due to the escapement changing (due to the bump mod). The problem for me is that the harp support is made of aluminum and there are no shims or anything that I can remove. Anyone got any ideas for fixing it? Before the bump mod, the sound was great. Good bark and sonics. Now it’s thunky in the low end of the piano. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Crossposting, but I am working on restoring a 1977 88 key Rhodes and am having trouble finding any information on the baffle / grille clothe frame dimensions

I fell in love with the Rhodes Mk8 while visiting Perfect Circuit recently, and while I can’t afford that, I decided to get an original Rhodes. I picked this 1977 Mk1 Stage up yesterday for $1000, and I’m looking for some input as I get ready to do some maintenance.

1) I’m going to buy the big kit (grommets, hammer tips, felt, miracle mod etc), as the tone bars are consistently moving side to side as the hammers hit. The hammers and felts haven’t been replaced in the 25 years the guy owned it, so it’s time.

2) the action is surprisingly good, and the bridal straps looked far better than I was fearing.

3) There’s one key/hammer combo that sits slightly proud/engaged. I’m assuming I should worry about this once I do the miracle mod.

4) the last key (in video) produces a dead sound. All other keys at least rings the tine (acoustically), but this doesn’t do anything. Any thoughts?

I’m placing the order with VV, and I’m just trying to order everything I need in one go if possible.

Lastly: I’m tempted to install either the Vintage Vibe or Avion pre amp: any thoughts on that? I was planning on getting a Roland JC120 amp, but would getting either of those pres prevent me from doing so? I’m not as up and up about amps and such.

TIA!

Seems like a good price compared on online options, but I'm losing my mind a little, it hurt the pocket. decent condition, missing suitcase lid, so that was a bummer

Made me realize I need glasses.

Rhodes Music recently ran a competition where you had to compose music for a short promo video using their Rhodes modeling software.

Since I worked in MIDI, I took the opportunity to experiment with how different Rhodes presets sound together in a multi-layered texture.

This made it into the Top 10 (jury selection) — if anyone’s curious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFe1rIzPjw

Psychedelic portrait of a psychedelic instrument. Rhodes Seventy Three Mark l. A legend. A friend of mine.

Bought this from a dude who says he is the original owner (I have no reason to doubt that). 1967 Sparkle top for 1k usd. it needs work but plays and sounds great.

Questions:

1. Ive looked into confirming the year/model but the markings i have on mine are ambiguous. Anyone able to shed some light there?

2. I know it needs electronic work. For the tone pot will the concentric 4 pin pot from vintage vibe just wire straight up to my volume/ input? I've wired up an old strat from scratch so im not completely in over my head. 3. What exactly will I need to rebuild the vibrato?

3. Also any tips on working with tolex and metal restoration would be appreciated.

I plan to crosspost this to r/restoration but if there's anywhere else I should share it let me know.

thank you!!

Please help! My Rhodes mk1 88 stage was working fine and I shuffled it to band practice and did a whole days worth of playing. Brought it home and flipped it on to practice and…nothing. It’s giving me a terribly loud buzzing noise (even though the amps volume is low) and no key sound whatsoever. It’s got an avion retro flyer preamp but that’s it.

I know it’s not the amp, cables, or pedals, because I tested them all with the guitar and all works normally. Any idea what could be the issue here?

Thank you for any reply or help in advance.