Jerry Garcia Band | Stage-used Fender Rhodes Mark II

Property of Steve Parish

Jerry Garcia Band

Fender Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano, used in the Jerry Garcia Band, manufactured ca. 1980

Keyboard (43.5 x 26 x 9.5”), with road case. 

When the Rhodes Piano Company was bought by Fender Musical Instruments in 1959, the pianos designed by Harold Rhodes went into mass production. He continued to develop his stage pianos when Fender was acquired by CBS in 1965. In 1975, the famous Mark I was introduced, and gained an immediate following for being light-weight and portable. The Mark II began production in 1979 and featured an updated, sleek black design—but it was essentially the same as the Mark I, with 88 weighted keys and plastic hammers, and controls for bass boosting and volume.