Rhodes Mark I/II 73

cormacl

Folks,
anyone here source one of these at any point in the past?

I'm thinking of getting one for home use only. I just adore the sound of them. I don't gig but do play keyboards at home and have spent years of messing with Rhodes patches on my Korg N5EX and Roland JV-1010 (w/ 60's-70's pianos exp card). But as we know, it is just never as good as the real thing.

I've seen them on ebay and usually, the best-priced models are US-based. However, you're talking about 300-400 shipping alone not to forget what Mr customs will want to take.

Any suggestions on where people sourced them very welcome or even if people have one for sale or know of someone with one etc. I'm living in the Kildare/Dublin area.

unclebill98

Your best bet is Ebay ones in England. Find one and then drive over to collect. Thats where I got mine. I'd not buy without trying it out as the condition varies and you'd rarely find one that does not need a little TLC.

Keyzer

Would love to get my hands on one of these little beauties myself...

Let me know how you get on.

Keyzer

Check these dudes out...

http://www.klassickeysgb.com/#

And check out this guy - he's from Holland but he might be able to hook you up:

http://www.youtube.com/user/serenities

Nononolan

Thomann.de have the mk 7 for an eye watering 3899
Good thing you re looking to use it at home because they weigh a bloody ton!
Good luck in the search

cormacl

I finally got a Mk1 88 SP from some chap in the UK. It was listed on auction on ebay, but I made an offer and he accepted. €1000 all in including delivery. I'm due to get it either today or tomorrow.

The US auctions for I/II 73's typically close off at $500-$700, with many looking for $1300+ for buy it now transactions. Thats just too much considering the real hefty shipping costs with Fedex/UPS etc (~$600). Also the customs are likely take their cut on the import. One seller in the US was using freight shipping for around $350. That ships from airport to airport.. but he was one of the give me $1300+ sellers!.. no way.. too much.

I wasn't looking for an 88 but it was all that was available in my price range and weight-wise its 80kg instead of 70kg.. only 1/7th more of a nightmare to move around. Its been through some restoration but mostly has all its original bits. Will know more when its delivered.

I realise the risk of ordering without trying out etc but I just didn't have the time to go and collect it myself. Its not like my livelihood is depending on it etc. The pictures of the piano showed it in very good condition however.

I also ordered a Lexicon MX200 (~€200) to have as an effects unit for some reverb, chorus, phaser, flange etc. Seems like a fairly decent entry-level option for me.

Will update on how it all goes.

Savman

Don't see the point personally. Having played a real Rhodes, it was a magnificent instrument, however modern day Keyboards are virtually indistinguishable and don't need all the TLC a vintage instrument demands.

In a blindfolded Pepsi challenge, I really doubt there are many ears that could tell the difference between a 1970's Rhodes and a 2010 RD700.

But if you want one purely for the historic element, who am I to talk you out of it


/hammond B3 ftw

Keyzer

Would be interested to hear what this beast sounds like....

Stick up something on youtube when you get it.

fortuneg

Haha fantastic!

I have been toying with the idea of getting an Alesis Ion for a Rhodes sound for the last couple weeks.

Hope it all works out well for you, get some clips up ASAP!

cormacl

Well it arrived.

Initial issues involved having to get a small Alesis mixer to act as a pre-amp. My PC speaker set, usually used as my synth "amp" was not up to the job of amplifying a passive pickup output.

I'll probably get a cheap monitor pair at some point to get some decent quality amplification. The mixer has 4 ports and will come in handy for sharing the speakers with my other synths. With a home-only function, a guitar/bass amp is just no use to me and for other synth usage, a stereo monitor set is better IMO.

Soundwise.. its good.. its in tune by and large... only detected a few notes that felt off. All tines are present and pickups seem to be working. But the keyboard feels a little sluggish and loose. You have to work a bit to get the harder sound. About 8 of the keys are also suffering from dampers hitting the hammers. So playing is a little rhythmic! But that doesn't come out through the amplifier.

So the TLC begins.. I'm going to have to align the escapement and work on the keys/hammers/dampers etc to get things improved. Vintagevibe.com have kits for felts, grommets etc. There's also plenty of youtube resources showing the various reconditioning steps. Its time consuming but doesn't seem like rocket science.

You cannot underestimate the weight.. myself and the wife had to lug this beast (80Kg) up the stairs into the box room. Once the lid was off and legs attached, it was actually easy for two to move it around. But you couldn't in any kind of sanity lug one of these to and from gigs.

I'll try to get some audio, video and pictures up on youtube and picasa as soon as I can.

cormacl

Spent today taking the piano apart and giving things a clean.

Some pictures...
http://picasaweb.google.com/dresdner353/2010RhodesMk188August#

And a test video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PiM-DGPiPs
Forgive the playing.. its a bit of me tackling the bad damping and plenty of bum notes in between. I edited out most of the bad stuff. So hopefully it will give you an idea of how it sounds now. Oh meant to say.. the audio for this is from the premap/fx output. So you're not hearing all the other noise the dampers are making etc. A few tine/fork or hammer impacts can be heard here and there.

The_g-man

Sounds great, no rhodes demo complete without Angela of course.;)

Having mechanical sounds along the way is part of the character too, only the very recent keyboards or synths are catching on to that properly to compare.

But if I could get past the worry of buying vintage without fully testing it myself, I would love one of these somewhere down the line.

Keyzer

Sounds sweet man, great job on the Taxi theme tune...

I love the sound of this instrument.

cormacl

The_g-man wrote: »

....no rhodes demo complete without Angela of course.;)

You'd kind of wonder if back in the day music shops had a sign saying "No Angela/Taxi Theme" over the shop Rhodes.

fortuneg

Sounds great!