Rhodes Piano - History

History

WWII: The Army Air Corps piano was an acoustic instrument invented by Harold Rhodes 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.

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During World War II (after the battle of the Bulge), the Air Surgeon General asked Rhodes, by now America's most popular piano teacher, to devise a musical therapy program for convalescing GI's. At a loss to know where to get enough pianos, Rhodes hit upon the brilliant idea of using Air-Force surplus parts from U.S. bombers to make miniature "lap-top" piano kits the troops could build for themselves.

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Rhodes PianoBass Rhodes Mark II 73 Stage Rhodes Mark 7 on stage

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 four 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 1974 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 exist 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 1970s it might have reached ten thousand instruments each year.

1987-1991: Roland acquired the Rhodes trademark from CBS for $20,000 in 1987. It manufactured only two digital piano models, the MK-80 (88 key) and the MK-60 (64 key), using S/A (Structured Adaptive) 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.