Rhodes Piano - Sound-producing Mechanism

Sound-producing Mechanism

The Rhodes piano's tone-generating principles are derived from the concept of an asymmetrical tuning fork, 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 ( on a Stage-model ) 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).