New! See a Major Key Rhodes '73 Pickup Rail being Manufactured for the First Time on our CNC Router!

Programming done by the late Steve Boulanger

New!!! Rhodes History Double Feature

A new article covering the history of the Rhodes Prepiano has has been added to the History section! New information and pictures will continue to be updated in the coming days, so be sure to check back periodically.

Also coming soon from Major Key: A comprehensive look into complexities involved with the beginnings of Harold Rhodes' association with Leo Fender (with inside information courtesy of Leo's personal documents!), detailing the reasons why Harold went to Leo and the immensely difficult association that followed. Stay tuned!

New!!! Harold Rhodes: In His Own Words!!

A note from Major Key: Thank you all for your patience as we continue to organize our Rhodes piano components inventory. As a reminder, until our new parts catalog system is launched, we are not taking new orders at this time. An announcement will be posted in the main section when we are ready to begin processing orders again. Thank you for your support!

In the meantime, listen to Harold Rhodes share a bit of Rhodes history in his own words, reminiscing about the Fender Rhodes mobile piano teaching lab and reflecting on personal experience and philosophy behind his piano teaching method.
Click Here to listen.

The rebuilding of Major Key has begun!

October 1st, 2010

To our Major Key customers: We are currently gathering all the Major Key Rhodes piano components together from three different Fullerton locations. This is difficult, to say the least. We need to count, package, and assign the original Fender part numbers that match the Fender Rhodes Service Manual, as well as inspect the components for fit and finish. They need to be entered into a database and assigned a value. Our intent is to publish this list on our site by part number sequentially. This way, you can find any of the parts and check availability and price, we'd like to make it simple and straightforward. At this time, please be patient and we will publish this list as soon as we possibly can. Thank you for all your support!

For a special treat, listen to Harold Rhodes on a Kawai grand piano in 1993, which Harold personally made for me as part of a new cassette prototype tape piano course. Harold never played for anybody in concert after 1982 because he felt his playing had deteriorated in his later years, so this is very special to me. Enjoy! Click Here to listen.

New from Major Key: The SC-73 Electric Piano Preamplifier with Vibrato!

Any stage piano can now have the sound of the legendary suitcase pianos, with their classic tone due to their on-board preamp with vibrato. The SC-73 brings all the mojo of the suitcase tone, but taken to a whole new level with the built-in Harmonic Clarifier. Got a thing for the suitcase tone? We do too, and you won't believe your ears when you experience the SC-73.

The Major Key preamp model SC-73 is a re-creation of the Rhodes Suitcase 73 preamp with an exciting twist. The input signal is connected to a low noise, studio grade, op-amp that properly loads the pickup rail of a suitcase piano and amplifies the signal level. Next the signal is fed into a fully professional BBE Sonic Maximizer circuit, the same circuit found in the company’s 482i unit. This is where the exciting twist happens. The BBE circuit adds depth and clarity to the entire audio spectrum and brings out all the harmonic richness of any Rhodes. With independent controls over the low and high frequencies you will discover a wealth of tonal variations that previously were unavailable.

From the BBE circuitry the signal travels to the tremolo circuit, the very same circuitry found in the original units - even the use of the original Vactec VTL5C3 optical isolator device. Great care has been taken with the tremolo circuit to assure that its tonal character and “vibe” remained faithful to the original. The unit operates with an internal, fully regulated, +/- 15 volt bi-polar power supply which provides excellent headroom and superior signal integrity. SC-73 price and availability to be announced soon!

HISTORIC FEATURE: THE SAGA OF THE RHODES EK-10

Have you ever heard of the Rhodes EK-10 with its on-board synthesizer? Major Key is proud to bring you in-depth coverage of story behind the forward-looking, but tragic, Rhodes EK-10 piano.

In Memoriam

04/04/06: We are sad to announce the passing of Fender/CBS R&D engineer and Major Key collaborator Steve Boulanger, a close friend of John's and a brilliant man. Steve was best known for prototyping Fender guitar designs and for his work in the Fender Custom Shop. He was most recently employed by G&L Guitars to modernize the guitar factory, at the same time helping to develop new Major Key projects. Things won't be the same around here without you, Steve....

Product Spotlight

Major Key's MKHC-1 Harmonic Clarifier is a preamp designed to replace the Volume and Bass Boost controls found on the Stage Piano models. The MKHC-1 is based on a BBE chip that has been custom-programmed for the Rhodes piano's frequency response, providing controls for Gain, Lo Contour and Process (click the image for a close-up view). Gain and Lo Contour are new names for your old friends, Volume and Bass Boost, with Lo Contour giving you a much deeper and fatter bass response. So what is the Process knob for? This is the preamp's main feature, enhancing the piano's overall presence, giving it a more punchy sound. If you're looking for "bark and bite", the MKHC-1 does them both.

Harold's Idea: In 1987, Harold Rhodes came to BBE to have lunch with John and his father, as he had done several times before. Harold was fascinated by the relatively new BBE Sound technology, so they gave him a Model 411 single-channel BBE instrument preamp. This was a single-space rack unit with Gain Control, Process and Bass Boost. Harold liked it so much that he loaned it to a friend, who liked it so much that he kept it for himself. So they sent Harold another unit. Well, guess what...Harold gave that one away, so he went back to John's father and asked for a third one. This unit he kept! In Harold's own words, "every Rhodes piano must have this BBE Process incorporated in it". So now, nearly 20 years later, we are trying to make Harold's vision a reality....

Audio Demos: We recorded a 1978 Mark I direct (sans amp), splitting the pickup rail output such that one channel was processed by the Harmonic Clarifier while the other was not. The MKHC was set with the Gain at 12 o'clock (50%) and the Process & Lo Contour knobs each at 1 o'clock (around 60%). This is a practical setting that gives you both an enhanced bell-tone and a fat low-end, without going overboard. Both outputs were connected to mic preamp inputs on a Mackie 1202 mixer, patched to a 24/96 digital audio interface and recorded in MOTU DP4. Except for the MKHC, no EQ or other processing was applied. Each song has two versions: one in mono demonstrating the MKHC's effect, the other in stereo with the unprocessed tone in the left channel and the Harmonic Clarifier tone in the right. Listening to the stereo versions with headphones will give you the best impression.

Rhythmic (1:14)

MKHC Alone (MP3, mono, 588K) Stereo A/B (MP3, split stereo, 1173K)

Balladic (2:04)

MKHC Alone (MP3, mono, 972K) Stereo A/B (MP3, split stereo, 1946K)

This latest rev of the MKHC-1 features a new silver faceplate and black knobs to match the look of the Mark I. For owners of previous versions, an update kit is also available.

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