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The Evolution of the Rhodes Piano

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If you’ve played a handful of Rhodes pianos you may have noticed that they each have
their own unique sound and feel. But what makes some Rhodes sound and play better
than others? And what years of Rhodes are best for achieving the sound that you are looking Clavinet 14

for?
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Over decades of Rhodes production from the 1960’s through the mid 1980’s the Rhodes
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piano’s design went through a number of changes that impacted the electric piano’s
action and timbre. While the setup of the Rhodes is critical to getting the most out of the 5
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Rhodes’ dynamic and tonal range, the instrument is still constrained to the components
of the speci c era of production giving each era of production its own unique sonic Pianet 5

characteristics. Even though some of the design and production changes improved upon
the previous era, many of the changes were simply cost-cutting measures that altered Rhodes 63

the Rhodes’ action and tone for better or worse.

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Here’s a brief overview and timeline of the changes: 

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Note: All opinions of the models are based on evaluating the Rhodes after it is professionally 4
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setup by our workshop in its ideal state. Some of these models will require more setup than
others from their original design in order to achieve ideal levels that we assume in our
descriptions.

1960’s: The Sparkle Top Years

This is the Fender Rhodes that you will hear on an introspective journey through Miles
Davis’ Bitches Brew, Billy Preston on The Beatles’ rooftop sessions of “Let it Be,” or
paired with Bill Evan’s Steinway on From Left to Right. These Rhodes are signi cantly
more rare and currently considered more collectible than anything else since their parts
are less reliable and harder to replace when they break down.

Most Rhodes electric pianos from this era of production is recognizable by their sparkle
top, but some 1969-1970 pianos have “Sparkletop Era” components under a black
plastic lid. These pianos had felt hammer tips that were darker and mellower in attack
than the later pianos. When you dig in it has a bark that’s entirely di erent from the later
1970’s models because of the di erences in the hammer tips and most importantly the
Raymac tines. This gave them a wonderful and unique tone that’s featured on a lot of
our favorite records from the era, but likely because of some of the aws in the design
of these early pianos we unfortunately don’t hear many of them on professional
recordings of today…

1971-1973: The Early Fender Rhodes

Mark I

This is the introduction of the classic Mark I tone. The Early Mark I was introduced in late
1969 and after a couple of design changes in the rst couple years they settled into the
classic Fender Rhodes design that more than holds its own against the test of time. Its
tone throughout these years has the quintessential warm Rhodes bark that is sought
after by most players making them more valuable than the later Mark I years. They hit
their stride with the design of the piano around 1971/1972, but that doesn’t mean that
they play great. Players often complain about pianos from this era playing “swampy” or
“sti ” because they hadn’t yet worked out the kinks in getting the action design ‘just
right.’
These years are distinguished by their wood/plastic hybrid hammers and wooden harp
supports that allow it to achieve its classic tone. One of the downfalls of this era is its
“skirted” key caps which were plastic and curved on top. While this gives it a feel that is
in some ways inseparable from The Early Mark I it lacks the feel that most players come
to expect from a piano. (This bothers some players more or less than others).

This era of production is also unique because it is the last years that you see the “Fender
Rhodes” name before it was changed to simply “Rhodes.”

1974-Early ’76: The Transitional

Years

The change  of the trademark branding from from “Fender Rhodes” to “Rhodes” took
place in the second half of 1974. There weren’t any immediate changes to the
instruments design, but from then until mid 1976 there were a series of changes that
alter the Rhodes’ in impactful ways. First, the action is updated with a fully plastic
hammer (the previous hammer was a hammer and wood) in the middle of 1975. The
hammer’s contour was also updated, which gave a slightly “tighter” response as
compared to the earlier “bounce” felt between the key and hammer. This di erence is
fairly negligible when the instrument is setup with proper action, and some players
seem to have a preference towards the earlier or later action depending on their own
style. The harp support design was also updated were also updated

In our opinion the most dramatic change in tone happens in early 1976 when the
Rhodes’ hammer tips were updated from a cube hammer tip to a graduated hammer tip
style. Shortly after the tines were shifted from Torrington production to Singer.
Although the “Fender Rhodes” trademark was dropped in early 1974, these two
changes are what truly marks the end of the early “Fender Rhodes” sound.

1976-1979: The Late Mark I (Pre-

Mark II)

The changes in the design of the Late Mark I years seem more like a series of business
decisions made by “suits” rather than changes that improve the instrument itself. I’m not
sure if I’d call it an experimental period, but some of the changes implemented during
this period were also reversed and some aspects were somewhat improved upon to
some degree. For instance, from mid 1975 through early 1978 the action felt was
repositioned from the key pedestal to the back of the hammer, but learning from this
mistake (the felt on the back of the hammer doesn’t hold up as well as it breaks in) they
also made improvements to the pedestal design with what is now known as the pedestal
“bump” ( rst installed with a piece of felt and later notched into the wood) contoured
into the key. 1978 marks the period when the Rhodes action design hit its stride.

During these years the classic Rhodes bark begins to transform into the more bell-like
tones that are characteristic of the Mark II.

1979-1982: The Mark II

When it was rst introduced introduced, the Mark II was identical to last design of The
Late Mark I in every way with the exception of its new cosmetic design. The Mark II is a
classic benchmark in Rhodes sound and a handful of players have a preference towards
the Mark II sound. It is generalized that the Mark II is more bell like and are somewhat
less “deep” and barky than the early models, but in some situations this is preferable or
even advantageous in the mix.

For some reason the pickups in the last year of the Mark I and the rst year of the Mark
II are extremely prone to failure. Although it has been attributed to the “white tape”
period of production, the failures seem to predate that change in production. Whatever
the cause of the failure is, the 1979-1980 pianos seem to have the highest rates of
pickup failure…

1984: The Mark V

Although it lacks the classic looks of the Mark I and Mark II, it’s fundamentally the same
instrument. –But that’s not to say that its design doesn’t have its own unique charm and
improvements of its own! The action was dramatically updated with changes to the
pedestal and the hammer that increased the dynamic play in each note. Unfortunately it
also seems that the hammers are much more prone to failure than the previous design.
The failure of hammers, and other parts unique to the Mark V’s design make
them very hard to maintain over time.

With its new plastic enclosure, the Mark V is dramatically lighter than the earlier designs
and is much more practical for a gigging musician. The original stand that accompanied
the Mark V was attached to the Rhodes with imsy metal connections and these days it’s
uncommon to nd one in good condition.

The tone of the Mark V is analogous to the Mark II but with a little more clarity and
response due to the dynamic play of the action.

UPDATE: For more information on how to nd the year of your Rhodes piano,

check our post How to Date a Rhodes.

Max Brink Tags D AT IN G A R HOD ES

More by Max Brink FEN D ER R HOD ES


HOW T O D AT E A R HOD ES

MAR K I MAR K II

R HOD ES

R HOD ES BAR K

R HOD ES T ON E

T IMELIN E

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Comments (11)

Rhett 8 years ago Reply

is there a serial number directory online to help pinpoint when your rhodes is
from?

mbrink  8 years ago Reply

Good question! Here’s a link to a new post that will help you
determine the precise year:

https://chicagoelectricpiano.com/rhodes/how-to-date-date-rhodes/

CJGibson 8 years ago Reply

Very intersting background information. Thanks for posting it.

Frederik "Freddan" Adlers 8 years ago Reply

Here’s the original information fro´m the Rhodes Supersite:

http://www.fenderrhodes.com/faq/how-old-is-my-rhodes-what-year-was-it-
made.html

Very important to know about the MkV’s is that the plastic didn’t really stand
up to the increased energy the higher harp produced. Therefore very often
you will nd cracks in the plastic that can result in many problems and
damage.

mbrink  8 years ago Reply

 Thanks for the additional info, Freddan! We tried to keep the post as
brief as possible and there are a lot of little things to look out for on
every model. With every two steps forward they seemed to take one
or two steps back (or sometimes laterally). It’s surprising that there
weren’t more signi cant updates made over the changes–we have a
few in mind that we would implement in a heartbeat!

Jon Furulund 5 years ago Reply

Just wanted to let you know that I have a Fender Rhodes suitcase 73 where the
harp is stamped 52/73 and it has the tted key caps, suggesting that they
started a bit earlier than mid 74?

mbrink  5 years ago Reply

I’ve only seen them earlier than mid 1974 one student piano from
1970. What is the second nishing stamp? There should be a four
digit stamp that goes WWYD (week, year day) Is it something with a
“4” in the “Y” place? And what week does it indicate there?

Jon Furulund  5 years ago Reply

That stamp goes 0474 and I was wrong with the other
stamp, it was 4973 not 5273…

Douglas Barnhill 5 years ago Reply

Trying help a friend who was left a pre-fender 60’s rhodes. Blac with pedal & 4
legs. Only says Rhodes on it. Any idea to Guage the worth?

Hal P 4 months ago Reply

You mention that in 1978 the key pedestal bump was re-implemented. What
prior years had it and when did it go away.

Max Brink  4 months ago Reply

Sorry for the confusion! I made a few updates… The felt was once
again applied to the pedestal rather than the hammer in 1978. After
mid 1975 they used a di erent type of felt on the back of the
hammer which didn’t hold up as well as it broke in. In late 1977 and
early 1978 there are some pianos that have felt “bumps” placed
under the felt that was applied to the pedestal and that change is
also suggested by the service manual. However, the most preferred
action design is with a hard notch/bump placed under the felt
similar to what was implemented by mid 1978.

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