Dulcitone tuning fork piano?

[Ron Nossaman]

> This is really interesting. In some respects, then, the Rhodes 
> electronic piano is actually an electric Dulcitone, since the 
> tine/resonating bar assembly of the Rhodes constitutes a tuning fork, 
> albeit with unequal arms.
>  
> Kent

Exactly. A lot of years ago, I attended a local seminar class 
given by Harold Rhodes his own self during which he described 
the development process of the instrument. The first 
incarnation was essentially a keyboard xylophone with aluminum 
tone bars (tubing), and the action geometry came out of 
playing with a spoon on a table in the mess hall. The 
production model used the tuning fork idea for the electronic 
pickup, and kept the rocking spoon action action. The 
electronic pickup, with the post processing potential, and the 
possible tine to pickup proximity adjustments, with the 
surprisingly broad and interesting potential timber spectrum, 
puts it in a somewhat different class than the celeste. 
Similar, but a bunch more versatile.

Ron N