Former Rhodes production manager Roger Garvin reflects on the Fullerton factory years and the limited-edition MK8/80AE anniversary instrument on the way.
Roger Garvin joined CBS Musical Instruments in 1970 and then spent the next decade at the heart of the California factory. He first oversaw the Rhodes production line, then served as Rhodes Marketing Director. As the company marks its 80th anniversary, he reflects on the era.
Harold Rhodes’ original motivation, Roger recalls, was surprisingly practical. Watching guitar teachers earn more by taking group lessons while he taught piano students one at a time, Harold set about building an instrument that could be monitored individually across multiple students at once.
“Part of the genesis of the Rhodes piano was that Harold wanted to be able to teach multiple students at the same time,” Roger said.
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By the early 1970s, that educational tool had become one of the defining instruments of the era. Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and Ray Manzarek all played Rhodes, and many of them passed through the Fullerton factory in person. “Harold loved talking to them,” Roger said. “They all came by, and they were big fans of the instrument.”
The factory itself was a full manufacturing operation – tone bars, frames, hardware and steel parts largely produced in-house alongside Fender guitars, Rogers drums and the rest of the CBS Musical Instruments range. Roger describes the environment as wood dust, machine oil, Tolex glue and rolling racks of partially assembled pianos, staffed by builders who came from musical backgrounds themselves. “We could do anything there,” he recalled.
“When I first saw the MK8, I thought Harold would just be grinning from ear to ear,” Roger said. “He would be so delighted to see what it had become. At the same time, he’d be going, ‘Well, why the hell didn’t we think of that?'”
Rhodes is set to mark the anniversary with the MK8/80AE, a limited-edition instrument due to be unveiled soon. Learn more here.
