🤘 So glad to hear it, thanks very much for the message. I was hoping there would be some fellow woodworker/engineers out there to come across this project!
As a woodworker, rocket scientist, computer scientist, astrophysicist, lumberjack, professor of philosophy, and president of the United States, this video really hit home with me. Thank you for your hard work, and it turned out amazing. 👍
I admit that I was slightly disappointed that you weren't going to recreate the actual Rhodes mechanism, as that's what the title suggested to me, but I still watched and enjoyed the entire video. Nice work!
As a wood patternmaker and aerospace toolmaker your process of engineering, design, CNC modeling and hand work is oustanding to say the least...absolutely beautiful. Top shelf pro work.
I own a Reface CP and a Keystation 61 and I've been dreaming of combining them into a single unit for gigging. Fear of damaging my gear during teardown has kept me from diving in -- this video is exactly the reference material I needed. Thank you so much for the in-depth coverage!
Awesome! Glad to hear it, hope the teardown project goes well! Just keep track of the individual screw locations and all that, if you end up feeling like it’s getting too complicated you can easily put everything back in place without any trouble. There are no “can’t be undone” moments that I encountered with either the reface or keystation (up until the point that I bandsaw apart the entire keystation haha). Good luck!
A thing of true pristine beauty. I'm speechless. This is a wholesome art, the recording, the editing, the voice-over, the idea, the story, the woodworking, the instrument. Hats off
Awesome work man, what a cool project! The Reface series are so darn fun but I can’t imagine how much better it’d be with a nicer keyboard and speakers.
The CK88 is like a Reface CP and YC combined, with some MX sounds too. Yeah, it's fun! I don't think it has the toy piano from the Reface, but nobody misses that.
Thanks so much for checking it out! Yeah the reface series is quite underrated, but beloved in the “underground”… I’ll be picking up another one and figuring out what I can do with it 🤙
As someone seriously considered building it from the scratch, like coils, pickups, actions (from fatar, I guess) and stuff when I was in colledge, since I couldn't afford the real rhodes, this is the topic I really dig into. thanks for sharing this awesome project! (I just end up satisfied with VST with nice audio interface with okay response delay)
Clear, in depth, entertaining, extremely well shot and edited, good soundtrack and the project is wonderful. You can’t get closer to tutorial perfection!
I was absolutely shocked seeing that this Chanel only has 1k subscribers. The production quality of this video is some of the best I've seen on the platform. I love the concept, and I definitely want to get my hands one one of those Yamahas now. Awesome content man!
Thanks so much man! Haha I worked like crazy on this video (and project), it’s what pushed me over the 1k subscribers…so glad it seems to be connecting with people and isn’t too niche’d down! 🤙
As a guy who mostly makes wood scraps and never finishes songs, I salute your skill, tools and commitment to such an overwhelming project. The result is nothing short of stunning.
I'm a woodworker and an audio engineer, and for years i've thought for brief moments "what if i try to build a wooden rhodes by myself, with the metal strips and the pickups and all" and when I think about stuff that way, i only get the motivation to do it whenever someone makes a huge youtube video going into detail on how to make it. I clicked this video thinking it was finally going to be that, but when I saw your project idea it opened up a lot of possibilities I haven't thought about, because handmaking a rhodes is probably extremely expensive. This is a brilliant idea sir, and you gained a new subscriber! Thank you
So funny, I bought the reface and then got the same 61 key controller to have full-sized keys. Used to own a Mark 1 studio Rhodes (with 4 12’s) and mistakenly sold it after 40 years. The Yamaha does indeed punchcard way over its size. Awesome job on your custom enclosure.
Easily one of the top videos on this platform. Great woodworking driven by love of the craft and love of music. I'll be going through your whole catalog before too long! Simply stupendous
This is the best Christmas gift I could ever ask for. You’re literally doing the kind of work that I’ve been chipping away at for a while now. I’m grateful to all the music technologists/musicians and woodworkers/Maker’s out there. Combining the skills and passions is one of the keys. This video and build is a special piece of art. Grateful✨Much love and many blessings in the new year
Yo absolutely beautiful. I am both an audio engineer/musician and a woodworker and have been building custom furniture for my studio for several years now and I love seeing your work bringing these two passions together to create the ideal modern home recording studio.
This is incredible. The piece looks amazing and is so thoughtfully designed. Video is so well done and I really appreciate the great explanation of the rationale behind every design choice. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while and now I’m 10x more inspired. Looking forward to seeing more!
As soon as I saw the CP marketed, I wanted to do exactly this. Glad to see I'm not alone (and someone much more experienced to show the way). I thought the CP was a perfect example of what (if I recall correctly) Brian Eno was looking for as in a box that did a few things very well, instead of doing many mediocre things.
I very much enjoyed watching this. Felt very contemplative with the music and your calm voice. As a just starting woodworker and a hobby electronic dawless musician two of my favorite things come here together and gave me lot of inspiration. I am grateful for that. Thank you!
I love the sound of these Refaces and wondered if it was possible to transfer it to a bigger keyboard. You went a 1000 steps further than that! Great project! Congrats!
As an extremely furry puppy with an owner whose name is John MacArthur Rhodes, I can appreciate the dog-person slur of your voice and the professionalism displayed in the build quality of the wood box. Great Work!🎉
This is gorgeous. I kind of want a keyboard in an enclosure, which is truly my own thing. The most important aspect to me of this build is how you created a thing which is a response to classic design, and which projects it into your own aesthetic space, which ends up being both retro and futuristic. I love that you gave us your design notes and thoughts, about color, about reveal. About things woodworkers, designers, and craftspeople care about. Musical instruments should be objects of craft and care, and this is a master class in creating something beautiful. I adore the back panel and the top strips which form a speaker grille and an incredibly warm and retro looking wood keyboard instrument.
Wasn't it difficult getting the hole in the brass rod so perfectly centered with that hand-drill rig? That was a beautiful solution for the mod wheels. The whole build was done with so much artistry and professionalism, just so incongruent using the Reface for the controls.
I understand you wanting to build it yourself, but for that kind of money wouldn't it have been cheaper to get a Yamaha CP1 second hand, you would have either spend the same kind of money and have had real hammer action. I do appreciate the time and effort you put into this build.
@@RobertSlover imagine being mad at getting clickbaited into watching an awesome video of a guy making a beautiful keyboard. Anyway he says it's not a real rhodes in the first 3 minutes of a 55 minute video
This kind of content is what drew me to the internet 20 years ago; folk using their own skills to solve problems while educating the rest of us on how to do the same.
This is so nice, and I’ve seen this comment a few times here….as an avid YT watcher I truly did not think people would think so highly of this video, it’s so nice to hear it as I did put a ton of work in! Thanks so much for watching and your comment
Fantastic work, a piece of art! A quick tip for future projects: Put the (brass)rod in the chuck and the drill bit upright in the vise. The hole will be self-centering like on a lathe. Then change the drill in the vise against the tap und turn the vise by hand to start the thread.
This is about the most inspiring thing I've seen this year. Design thinking and craftsmanship at its zenith. I use a Crumar Seven as the centerpiece of my rig, which is a pretty cool build, but your instrument makes it look like a child's toy. I was almost drooling at the finished piece. Good on ya, man!
That’s the word I thought of : inspiring it certainly is. Way ahead of my skill level but I might have a crack at a simple desk for my music making now !
Where are the tines? Pickup coils? its not a homebuilt Rhodes when its just a very super nice made wooden case holding electronics and plastic keybed. Love how it looks and it's a very nice project, I love it, but your title is very misleading click bait.
Incredible. Have been dreaming up the same kind of thing since they put out the CP Refaces. So many details you have added are such a huge improvement, and I'm stoked to see that the first one done was done in such an inspiring and high quality way. The weighted keys and integrated speakers are such a great touch. Would love a little bit more detail on how everything is wired together on the inside -- do you have photos of how you wired the power strip and the cable routing? Planning on doing a similar build but on the Wurlitzer side of things, with smaller speakers and a smaller keyboard. Thanks for making that possible.
Thank you very much! Yeah I wanted to detail exactly the power setup, there are actually power strips that have a master outlet that controls the remaining outlets when it’s powered on. So it could be set up that once the amp is powered on the remaining elements come on (midi controller/CP) I think that would be a simpler way to go than I did, but I’d already wired it up my way. Also, I know how I wired mine is safe / but it’s still modifying an electrical path and I don’t want the liability of showing people how to modify a power strip haha!
I waited so long for this vid and it surpassed everything I had hoped for. The piece is brilliant. That build is a dream. So much work. The detailed video is also so so so well done my man. Thank you so much for this. So fkn dope.
if you've been waiting since I originally mentioned this project then you've definitely held out for quite a while haha! Thanks so much for sticking around, and for the kind words!
This is the first time I'm seeing your channel and this is fantastic content. I miss my Mark 1 88, my Hammond M3, and very early pre-lawsuit Paul Reed Smith clone. I have an 88 key M-Audio keyboard that I would happily sacrifice to a project like this. I would love to see a build list for this.
Awesome work!! I really don't understand why Yamaha doesn't release an MK II version of the Reface CP with 37-49 full-size keys. 37 full-size would be the same width as the current model, edge to edge, and they'd only have to add a couple of inches to the top for the control panel, but even 49 is still portable size-wise and way more playable. Add the ability to send the AUX in through its FX and replace the toy piano with the grand already hidden on it, and I think you have a best seller. Yamaha, please listen to your customers!! 😆
Cool project. But why skimp on the sound and keybed? Pianoteq has way better sound than the reface. And for keybed there would have been way better actions. Surely more expensive but with all the time and casing investment it totally would have been worth it.
This is by far the coolest build on the Music Tech community I have ever seen on RU-vid. Your expertise and attention to detail is what sets you apart. Keep on keeping on
This is literally the most amazing thing I think I've ever witnessed on you tube, or anywhere else for that matter. Personally? I would have downloaded a Rhodes VST to use with any MIDI keyboard, but only because if I lived to be 10 thousand years old I would never be able to do that! Mind blown!!! Thank you for sharing this.
Clickbait. Actual video is “CAN YOU REHOUSE A DIGITAL PIANO?” I used to work a real electro-mechanical piano manufacturer in 2017, building a Rhodes is categorically not this.
The Reface CP is my all time favorite digital keyboard and I use it extensively in gigs because of its portability and sound. I truly admire what you have done here; Yamaha Music Corp needs to see this.
Exactly. Very nice job on the reface, but it's not an electro mechanical keyboard, like an actual Rhodes.. I assumed he was going that route, since Vintage Vibe makes tons of repro Rhodes parts, and even has their own line of electric pianos. 🤷🏻
This was the first video I found while searching ideas on constructing almost exactly what you constructed. Amazing work! I would love to build this minus the speakers. Thoroughly enjoying the reface and would love to glorify it.
Beautiful build. I can’t wait to show this to my friends. We are musicians and I personally love how the colours accent so perfectly and the side enclosures finish. Very amazing !
Sub well earned! I suffered through the build of a black walnut Preamp enclosure and realized that (despite what others told me) that I had no clue what I was getting myself into and that this as best left to pros. You are a pro. Thanks for the video!
Fantastic job! I got all excited and took a took a peek at the CP Service manual and this beast is actually ROMpler with some DSP capabilities, but there isn't any special analog tone generator circuitry. The heart of the CP is a Yamaha SWX08 processor which combines tone generator, sample playback (looks like it has 32 megs of ROM samples), and DSP for creating filters and effects. It may have some special mojo for making its noises, but it's all digital mojo. Yamaha engineers are true masters of DSP.
Bro, this is absolutely fantastic. 👏🏽 I have a Rhodes sitting in my garage right now that needs some loving. Wishing I could find someone who enjoyed the woodworking and music as much as you do to rebuild my enclosure. This was an awesome watch!
That was an amazing project. As someone who felt lucky just replacing the keybeds in my Reface, I will stick to midi the sounds to another keyboard but I can appreciate the wood working and electronic detailed engineering.
This build is sick - if you're looking for more onboard effects, sounds, and the weighted keys from Yamaha the new CK88 kills it. I planned building something like this with a refaceCP or a rasberrypi for a long time until the CK came out and it just fit perfectly into what I was looking for in respect to vintage sounds and sound design that doesn't require too much menu diving.
The craftsmanship is so fun to watch. Thanks for the video, true gem in all of the 3d unfinished print diy projects i see. People tend to forget how much work goes into the actual finishing let alone the standard of finishing you do. Great job
Live it! I purchased a Dyno my piano from Wurlitzer’s in Boston early 80s. There was a leg lever that shifted the action to get a more muted hammer sound. I traded it for a DMX Or DSX to go with an Oberheim OB-Xa I had just purchased after playing the one that came in for the Cars. I regret ever getting rid of it. This one you created with the tone levers was a sweet build blending some new and old school analog. Thank you for making and sharing.
this is the exact type of morning coffee videos that lead my mind to get into it ... mid way between woodcraft / music stuff and DIY process that we love ... but first of all having a great workflow setup and gears to be able to do it well is obviously a big part of the budget, even with less of nothing you can build stuff too ... i mean when you put that kind of level of attention to details ... it will always be painful to not be able to do great finishing stuff to that kind of dedicated work ... LOVE IT ... thanks for this great process video !
