Rhodes Electric Piano 73 (Sparkletop)
Discontinued 1969Released 1965
The first full-size Fender Rhodes, sold as a piano on top of an amplifier base. Felt-covered wooden hammers and early Raymac tines give it a woodier, more bell-like tone than later Rhodes, which is the sound of Miles Davis's electric turn.
Replaced by Mark I Suitcase 73
Specifications
General
- Manufacturer
- Rhodes
- Status
- Discontinued
- Released
- 1965
Keyboard
- Keys
- 73
- Key action
- Hammer-action
- Aftertouch
- None
- Keybed
- 73 wooden keys with felt-covered wooden teardrop hammers
Sounds
- Sections
- Electric piano
- Drawbars
- None
- Sound engine
- Electromechanical: hammer-struck steel tines and tonebars read by electromagnetic pickups (early untapered Raymac tines)
- Organ models
- None
- Polyphony
- Full polyphony (73 notes)
Connections
- Outputs
- Built-in speakers
- Pedal inputs
- Sustain (mechanical)
Features
- Features
- Built-in 50W amplifier with four 12-inch speakers, Treble and bass EQ, Tremolo, Silver glitter lid (fibreglass until 1969)
Size & weight
- Colours
- Silver Sparkle
Heard on
Artists and records that used it, as Rhodes tells it.
- Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea (Miles Davis), In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew – The raw, bell-like sparkletop sound on Davis's first electric records
- Billy Preston (The Beatles), “Get Back”
