Re: Fender Rhodes

R. Scott (framboise@mindspring.com)
Fri, 21 Mar 1997 11:00:31 -0800

All,
Some history: Harold Rhodes built his 1st instruments from old pieces of
B-17's to help the morale of wounded airmen by teaching them piano. Rhodes
came out with his 3 octave, tube-amplified Pre-Piano--the 1st electric
piano--in the late 40's....
The 1st of the Fender/Rhodes instruments released to the public was the
famous Piano bass which came out in 1960.....The original 73-key
Fender/Rhodes was out by 1964 (the bottom half contained the amp and
speakers...In the early 70's the stage pianos (sans amp/spkrs) became
available...Both stage and suitcase models were now available with full
88-note keyboards...It was also during the mid '70's that CBS rep. Bob Bull
suggested changing the name to just Rhodes. It was also during the
mid-'70's that stretch-tuning began to be used... production of the
mechanical electric Rhodes pianos ended in 1981.
This is all excerpted from the December '93 issue of Keyboard. Sorry no
"exact"dates on the Mark 1 or 2. Also, Ray Charles recorded "What'd I Say"
on a Wurlitzer. The same model-I'm proud to say-that I own. I know that
Jerry Lee Lewis re-recorded some of his hits with a Fender/Rhodes in the
early/mid '60's (round-a-bout '64/'65). Moreover, Ray Manzarek switched
from the Vox Continental to the Rhodes for the L.A. Woman LP in 1970.
Their web address is: http://www.keyboardmag.com
e-mail: keyboard@mfi.com

peace,
R. Scott/West Coast Harem
e-mail: framboise@mindspring.com

----------
> From: Tony Reid <t-bird@salata.com>
> To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: Fender Rhodes
> Date: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 3:41 PM
>
> da> Anyone know when the "Fender Rhodes Mark I" and the "Fender Rhodes
> da> Mark II" were manufactured?
> da> Probably in the early 70's or in the end of the 60's, but I want the
> da> exact years.
>
> i'm completely guessing here, but since i *do* know that the (harold)
rhodes
> electric piano is part of wartime (wwII) technology (it was intended for
> theraputic piano lessons--made w/spare parts, so to speak), i would
guess
> that maybe we'd be talking about the 50's or *early* 60's--paging mr. r.

> scott, paging mr. r. scott...
>
> da> I have also heard that Frank Zappa was one of the first musicians to
> da> use the Rhodes on a recording... but who is the very first user?
>
> again guesses, but i'm pretty sure that ray charles' "what'd i say" was
> recorded in the early 60's (remember that elbis--intentional
typo--covered
> this tune when he was still considered cool, so i would guess frank was
> still
> in high school at the time) on a rhodes--or was that a wurlitzer? of
> course,
> if it was a wurlitzer, then the rhodes would already have been in
existence
> for some time meaning... that someone else even *earlier* had probably
> recorded w/the rhodes! pretty involved for a guess, huh?
>
> da> It's quite hard to find serious information about that lovely
> da> instrument that almost every "Acidjazzer" are familiar with. I have
> da> visited the page with the Rhodes technical manual, but I didn't find
> da> the answers to the questions above.
>
> my suggestion would be to contact keyboard magazine, and see who they
> recommend as an authority--they've done many articles on vintage
> instruments.
>
> t-bird