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(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
The Rhodes was the creation of American inventor, musician, and US Air Force serviceman Harold Rhodes. During WWII, Rhodes was charged with musical education, and his first piano was built for rehabilitating injured airmen. Designed to be compact so it could fit into a hospital ward or a classroom, it used parts salvaged from scrapped B-17 bombers. It was a great success, and Rhodes combined development of the piano with his acclaimed method of teaching for many decades.
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
From 1959 onwards, Rhodes collaborated with guitar maker Leo Fender to mass-produce and refine the keyboard. Their first product was the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, the sound of which you can hear at the start of The Doors’ ‘Break on Through’.
In 1965, the first full-sized Rhodes keyboard was released, the Fender Rhodes MK1, an instrument that produced one of the defining sounds of the pre-synth era. The Rhodes cropped up with clockwork regularity on some of the finest records of the 60s and 70s, in every genre, from Ray Charles to Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder to Miles Davis. You can see Billy Preston use the Fender Rhodes to glue the Beatles’ ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ together in Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ documentary.
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
The Rhodes had two things in its favour; a vast range of tones running from smooth, silvery and easy listening through to gritty and distorted, as well as being far more reliable and portable than other stage pianos. Stacked atop its bespoke suitcase amplifier, it was perfect for touring musicians.
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
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(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
(Image credit: Rhodes Music Group)
The care and attention being put into the MK8 revival means this is retro-luxury at its finest, not a machine you’ll want to subject to the rigours of life on the road (unless you have a well-trained team of white-gloved roadies). Finally the Rhodes looks as good as it sounds.
The Rhodes MK8 is available from £8,154.
Find out more atRhodesMusic.com.
This article is part ofThe T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
This article is part ofThe T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
This article is part ofThe T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
This article is part ofThe T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
This article is part ofThe T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
This article is part ofThe T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
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