We thought this was curious enough to share – a Fender Rhodes stage piano with a full set of green wound pickups. Outside of very early sparkle top era production, all of the Rhodes piano pickups that we have encountered use a red or orange copper-colored pickup wire.
This particular instrument dates from the 44th week of 1973. So far we have heard from just one other tech (our friend Ken Rich) that had an instrument stamped in the exact same week with the same green pickups. Other than that, these are the only examples we know of! They sound great, but we are unaware of why the green coil wire used in the mid to late 1960’s made a reappearance for such a short period of time in 1973. Manufacturing mistake? Red wire out of stock? ‘Creative’ assembly line technician? We may never know, but it is still a cool look at a very brief little slice of Rhodes history.
Drop us a line at info@chicagoelectricpiano.com if you have a piano with these green coiled pickups!
