RMI electric piano on eBay

[TrancedelicBlues]

This is worth taking a look at even if you don't want it, just for the photos. The seller actually opened the casing so we could all peek at the insides.

[ITGITC]

Thanks for the link, Mike.

 

Those pictures bring back lots of memories - that was the exact model, including the cover, that I bought from the RMI factory in 1970. They were just down the road. I also purchased their amp. I was 15 at the time.

 

The good news is that the cab was loaded with two 15" JBL woofers and two tweeters that they used in their (Allen) organs. The bad news is that transistor amps sounded like crap back then.

 

Tom

[Carlito]

Buy Now price is $340.00. Seems in good shape. Not Bad! I have a CP-70 in excellent condition and a Rhodes in good condition.I hope I'll still be playing them 20 years from now. I'm not familiar with RMI's but I would buy this one if I had room for it.

[eric]

Those collapsable legs are killer...just like the ones that Bill Beer used on his Hammond chops.

 

Regards,

Eric

[MikeT156]

Hey Tom (Gas in the Car), I went to the RMI factory to buy one of those pianos back in those days too! Wasn't that in Macungie, PA (spell) or something like that? Cool. The only thing I didn't like about that EP was that it had an organ action on it. It really didn't sound all that bad for an EP for those days. It was "better" than carrying around a suitcase Rhodes for a R&R band. At least it could cut through a little better.

 

That one on EBay is in mint shape.

 

Edit: You're right Tom, it was at the Allen Organ company factory. They did sell the RMI pianos at the allen organ factory, I guess they owned RMI.

 

Mike T.

[Dave Horne]

RMI electric pianos bring back a lot of memories ... none of them pleasant unfortunately. If you need extra traction for the snow, the weight of the keyboard might actually be a plus if the keyboard were placed in the trunk.

[ITGITC]

Mike T.,

 

The RMI factory was in Rocky Mount, NC. The Allen organ factory is in Macungie, PA. I'm from NC.

 

Dave, I agree with you for the most part. At the time, I was 15 years old. This was my first electronic keyboard. The Fender Rhodes (they hadn't dropped the Fender name yet) had a horrible action. Of course, with RMI located just around the corner, plus a 40% discount off the retail price, plus the difficulty in getting my hands on a Rhodes, my decision was biased heavily towards the RMI.

 

The action was that of an organ. The keyboard was not touch-sensitive. The piano voice wasn't very convincing. However, I played many gigs with that board and had a lot of fun doing them.

 

I'll also say that the RMI was built like a tank - quality throughout. I never had any problems with it & I'll bet the one on ebay probably works fine.

 

After the RMI I purchased a Wurlitzer EP, and later, a Fender Rhodes. In 1975 when I purchased the Fender Rhodes, the action had improved substantially.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

[JeffLearman]

The Rhodes may have had a horrid action, but at least it HAD an action! I'll take dynamics any day, thank you. Those RMIs were awful substitutes for a piano. I still cringe at the times I heard "piano" parts played on them. However, they did have a sound of their own that worked for some tunes.

 

But a Rhodes or Wurly would do so much more, I never saw the point in having one. If I wanted to have a personal keyboard museum, though, I'd click that Buy Now button without a moment's hesitation! (Gee, I really would like to have my own personal keyboard museum -- only, I'd have to move, and I'd also need some unknown rich uncle to die and leave me a tidy sum.)

[zeronyne]

Tom, you should definitely buy it! In the last year, I scarfed up a bunch of really cheap rack synths from my youth and created a B room that would have been a dream studio in 1989...now it's something I hide in my office...now all I need is a Fairlight Series III and an EIII keyboard.

[The Soundsmith]

RMI electric pianos bring back a lot of memories ... none of them pleasant unfortunately.

Amen! I made a major life transition in 1968, moving from a steady, very cool B3 gig at a soul bar in Baltimore to San Francisco, to study sarod with Ali Akbar Khan. Knowing I could not keep playing jazz organ and really delve deeply into raga, I quit keyboards. After several years, I could no longer stand the day gigs, and decided to get back into 'western' music. I bought the RMI, after deciding 'everybody' was playing Rhodes, and I wanted to sound different.

 

I did. I sucked. The piano was a joke, and even after modifying it by moving the decay time pot from inside to the front panel, I still sucked. I could NOT play crisply, or with precision, and the tone was like a toy. I thought the lack of chop was me, and it was so bad I was about to call it a failure and give up music entirely, when I got a call to play B3 at a strip club in North Beach. That night, I burned, I soared, I laughed, I wept, I crawled on my belly like a reptile - and put an ad in the paper the next day to sell the RMI.

 

It's so bad because the touch adjustment is a simple screw driven into the wood of the piano ley - press down, it rises up to contact a reed switch to complete a tone generator circuit, and it's almost impossible to adjust evenly.

[Erlic]

Actually, I owned, and played the RMI back in the late 60's, and really never had a problem with it. I needed an instrument that sounded closer to a piano, and didn't sound like a Rhodes or Wurly. The RMI did the trick. Blood, Sweat and Tears used one of their other models, the Roksicord (spelling?), when they played in concert (first concert with Clayton Thomas). It sounded pretty decent at the time. Only my two cents worth.