Fender Rhodes Electric Piano – Custom Build (Vintage Vibe–Inspired Enclosure)

Note up front: The walnut enclosure design is inspired by and based on work from Vintage Vibe Electric Pianos. Full respect and credit to VintageVibe. Hi all. This project started in winter 2023 after I broke my foot hiking in the mountains. Long story short: surgery required, recovery sucked, bored to tears — so I started a new project. I borrowed heavily from Vintage Vibe’s custom shop designs and Chicago Electric Piano Co.’s work, then did my own execution, focusing on hand-cut dovetails and intricate inlay work using mother of pearl set into redwood burl. While the concept itself isn’t wholly original, the craftsmanship and process felt worth documenting. Full disclosure: I’m a hobbyist. Why rebuild a “perfectly fine” Rhodes? This Mk I reeked of mold and the cabinet was in very rough condition. I’m not a collector, but I do care about preserving instruments properly. I also picked up a white-tape Mk II Rhodes that required extensive restoration — more to follow. For now, I’ve posted my pickup rewind method. Intro and outro music is this Rhodes running through a RetroFlyer preamp into my amp modeler/interface. I like the sound of a Champ about to explode, so there’s a bit of gain, reverb, and delay. Tremolo via the Avion. It’s full stereo, but recorded mono into a very crummy phone interface — apologies in advance.