Last week, I went to the jazz band leader’s house to jam with him and a few other guys. We ended up forming a pretty full band (7 guys). I played on his piano, which would have been ok, except every other instrument was louder than mine. I barely heard myself most of the time.
So I concluded I needed to bring my keyboard there to play from now on. But I didn’t want to pack up this huge keyboard I own and haul it in my tiny car every week. So I asked him if I could leave my keyboard there over the summer. He said sure, and reassured me it would be safe. So that worked out.
But I was left with a problem. If I suddenly felt the urge to play at home, I’d be out of luck. So last week I started scouring ebay for a keyboard I’d always wanted: the Rhodes electric piano. I found a good deal on a Mark I in a nearby city. I bid on it, and ended up winning the auction Saturday afternoon. I won’t say what I paid for it… let’s just say it’s the biggest single purchase I’ve made since I moved last year.
I picked it up Sunday afternoon and immediately took it home to hook it up and play with it. At first I was very disapointed, because several keys didn’t sound when pressed, and others sounded, but stuck, so they wouldn’t stop when I lifted my finger off the key. I took a look under the hood and saw a very complex-looking set of tines, tonebars, hammers, and dampers. So I went to the web for help. I found some very good references on Rhodes maintenance. After about an hour I had all the keys working and the few that stuck no longer did so. I’m assuming the keyboard didn’t play perfectly at first because of something that shifted inside when I transported it back to my place, 90 minutes away.
When I got it working, happy for the moment, I spent a long time playing it, enjoying the gorgeous, mellow tones it produced. The piano needs to be voiced. By that, I mean the tone and volume of each note needs to be adjusted for consistency. I’ll spend some time doing that tonight. I also want to dust and clean the inside. I have the whole evening to work on it.
The model I bought was made between 1969 and 1975. I looked up the history of this type of piano and based on the details I found out after opening the case up to examine the internals, I would date this piano between 1974 and 1975. I probably paid about what it’s worth… maybe slightly under its exact value.
The last owner didn’t have the pedal that goes with it. But he came up with an ingenious device that replaces the pedal. He made it from some scrap wood and various metal pieces from his garage. It functions exactly like a normal sustain pedal on any other piano. It doesn’t look all that great, but actually works quite well. I’ll need to oil it up to stop it from squeaking when I’m using it. I was grateful for his generosity in including the home-made pedal with my purchase.
Overall, I’m very satisfied with it. I had no idea how these pianos worked exactly. The design is quite ingenious. I don’t even need to plug it in! The pickups are passive, like most electric guitars. I simply plug the keyboard into my amplifier, and it sounds great. I was very pleased, playing it last night.
