My first electric piano was a silver top Rhodes suitcase model. I was about thirteen years old and my father freind's son went off to college and gave up playing. they had it in the garage and gave it to me for nothing. I later sold it because I considered it a studio instrument and needed the stage model (is that the name of the one with the legs and no amp?) for playing in live bands.
The next one was the stage mdel but it was one of
the Fender Rhodes, not the Rhodes with Fender written in script on the plaque. Both were really greata and I wish I had never sold either one. I practically gave away my Rhodes after havin glugged it around quite a bit. Frankly, by the time I had lugged those things around for about fifteen years, I was not at all sorry to see them go. And even today, If I had it, I would not have enough room since I live in Manhattan adn space is costly. This holds true for my C3 and D6 Clavinet, Arp Odysey,
Moog Rogue, DX7, roland Sper Jupiter (
MKS80). Those were the days. Actually looking back on it, I am not at all sorry to see extremely big and heavy keys gone but today I do not move keyboards anymore so I can wish for them back with impunity.
Oh yeah, the subject of this thread. You know, the touch of the real Rhodes is different to be sure, however, there are other instruments nowadays that have the sound and a pretty close touch. One such is
the Kawai MP9500.
The Yamaha P250 certainly has nice Rhodes sounds but, the thing is, most sampled sounds miss by jsut a bit. For instance, in a real Rhodes, there are varying degrees of subtle difference between each note. Also, the hard attack on the tines makes a certain sound that is mechanical in nature and does not translate to sample. Also, there is that distortion bite to the sound that I think is generated by the tines over loading the pickups. The pickups are not the most sophisticated piece of electronics and they are open to the elements and effected by such things and therefore each Rhodes is somewhat unique. Those old originals were so much better than the later Rhodes models. I always hated the Rhodes compared to my own Fender Rhodes not only for the sound but for the touch as well. The shape of the keys had changed. The originals had more rounded edges and were more solid. The newer ones had more square keys and most of the time felt rlimsy to me. I loved the feel and touch of my own Fender Rhodes and I am, as I think about it, deeply sad that I no longer have the instrument. It was like an old friend. We went through alot together like the time I came back to
the bandstand for the second set and found a not stuck between the keys. As the count-off was going, I pulled out the note and read the following: "the way you move your lips is making my nipples hard". Yes, I miss my friend...
