To help stimulate the senses and hopefully the dolldrums around here, I introduce to you the Mystery Sound of the day.

Just what the heck is a Clavinet anyway? I was listening to Stevie Wonder's superstition the other day and wondered, what kind of technique goes into making that sound?

Here is a little article I found on this great Internet describing the background if this marvelously qwirky instrument. Feel free to comment on your experiences with this instrument. Better yet, let's explore some other sounds and how we might make better use of them in our songs:

Hohner Clavinet

Julian Colbeck

Mar 1, 2001 12:00 PM


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Produced: 1971-85 Made in: Germany Designed by: Ernst Zacharias Number produced: 100,000 Sound-production system: hammer action, strings Price new: $700 Today's prices: Like new $2,000 Like, it's okay for its age $1,500 Like hell $900

Of all the classic keyboards and synths, none has had greater highs and lows than the Hohner Clavinet. All the rage in the 1970s when Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" catapulted its uniquely spiky, funky sound into everyone's consciousness, the Clavi went into a deeper funk - in the negative sense - in the 1980s; you could scarcely give one away. Even in 1996, the typical secondhand price was less than $1,000. Now a top-quality Clavi can fetch twice that.

The Clavinet began as another curious invention from Hohner staff designer Ernst Zacharias. A man with a quest to modernize and electrify a whole battery of baroque keyboard instruments, Zacharias also designed the Hohner Cembalet and Pianet. The first Clavinet - with built-in amplification - appeared in the early 1960s. Clavinet Model 1, the prototype, recently made its debut at Austria's Keyboard Museum. The first Clavinet was followed by the strange, triangular, three-legged period piece (complete with '60s-style reverse-color keys) called the Clavinet L.

But the D6 - with its distinctive light-wood casing, flip-top lid, and screw-in legs - was the big hit. The D6 is a curious contraption: it requires an annoying 9-volt battery, nominally has only one tone, and needs tuning. The pickups, single coil and prone to lots of hum, are embedded in epoxy resin, easily broken, and a bummer to repair. And the D6 weighs a ton (actually 68.35 pounds). The 1979-vintage E7 retained the same innards but sported new Tolex livery and more modern-looking tubular steel legs.

To appreciate what all the fuss is about, you have to play a Clavinet - a real one, not a sample or emulation. Only then will the full weight of this percussive, catchy, edgy, eminently playable instrument become apparent.

You'll quickly notice that the 60-note, firm-but-fast keyboard is not only velocity sensitive but also aftertouch sensitive. (I'm talking about mechanical sensitivity here; this is a pre-MIDI instrument.) Simply leaning hard into a note presses the hammer hard up against a string and (pitch) bends it, as in an 18th-century clavichord. A serious player can even produce vibrato by further waggling the key. But the main advantage of owning an actual Clavinet - as opposed to owning a set of samples or a digital synthesizer with a Clavi tone - is that a whole range of tones is, in fact, at your fingertips.

Magnetic pickups lie at the other end of the string, and six rocker switches on the top panel control the instrument's pickup arrangement and polarity. Those switches - Brilliant, Treble, Medium, Soft, A/B, and C/D - let you concoct a vast array of tones. A slider-operated string damper can let notes ring or progressively muffle them.

Aside from knowing which pickup configuration produces what tones, you don't need a lot of technical skill to play a Clavinet. But sound is produced by hammers hitting strings, so two more skills come into play: tuning and replacing broken strings. You have to check the tuning on a regular basis; a tuning key was originally supplied with the instrument. Although you can replace strings, doing so is somewhat of a drag. Luckily, strings don't break often unless your technique is fairly brutal.

When inspecting a prospective purchase, check the strikers, in case the previous owner was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under heavy hands, pads are prone to splitting, and split pads require replacement. You can check for splitting easily by gently holding down each key and making sure it doesn't temporarily stick to the string. Check the Clavi's interior for rusty strings and make sure that the bed in which the keyboard sits is not warped. Cracked pickups are a common problem; fortunately, you can purchase new ones from the Hohner Clavinet Resource Homepage (www.clavinet.com). The new pickups even improve on the originals thanks to their double-coil, humbucking design. An Upper and Lower set sells for $349.99.

Remarkably, the D6 Clavinet design did not change substantially during its long production run. Hohner no longer produces the original rubber hammer tips, but you can buy new tips from other sources, including the aforementioned clavinet.com ($74.99). Hohner resourcefully recommends using O-rings, cut to size, from a Chevy engine as an adequate substitute. You can ease changing a broken string by weaving a plastic drinking straw through the yarn and then passing the string through the straw.

The Clavinet's steely, percussive sound made it the Fender Stratocaster of keyboards. In fact, many guitarists - from Jeff Beck (Wired) to John Paul Jones (Physical Graffiti) to Frank Dunnery (who actually fretted a Clavinet bed) to Lenny Kravitz - have found it a natural extension of their normal plank-spanking endeavors.

The Clavinet does inspire, if not require, a particular playing style that is heavy on syncopation and feel and light on individual note articulation. Rick Wakeman on the Clavi was never a pretty sight.

Clavinets also benefit enormously from effects, notably wah-wah (if it isn't funky enough already) and phase shifter or chorus. Unaltered, the Clavinet is pretty dry and stark. It doesn't have a sustain pedal, of course. The lone audio out is mono, and though most people generally run a Clavi through a DI box for recording, a Fender bass or guitar amp (such as a Dual Showman or Twin Reverb) or even a Leslie cabinet can add considerable weight to the sound.

Hohner ceased dealing in Clavinets years ago, but you can obtain spare parts and service from companies that specialize in vintage-instrument repairs. On the Web, the top source is www.clavinet.com.

I never had a Clavinet, but my first portable keyboard was a Hohner Pianet N. (about 1964, I think). The sound was generated by means of small, tuned 'tines' which, when striking a key, caused a little sticky pad at the other side of the fulcrum to release from the tine (a sort of plucking motion, if you will). Each tine had a small pick-up attached to it to send the signal out.

The weirdest thing about that keyboard was the swell pedal which really wasn't a pedal at all, but a thin metal rod which hung down from under the keyboard and which you controlled with your right knee by moving it sideways.

All in all though it served me well for three years before I graduated to a Hammond. It was a lot lighter, too!

Probably the most famous Pianet sound is Rod Argent on She's Not There by The Zombies.

I had a D6 (I think, but it may have been called a C6)Clavinet. Bought it brand new in about 1976. Cost about $900.00 as I recall. It was funky. Back in the disco era it was part of my setup along with a Rhodes and for really funky music, a Hammond C3.

Danny

edit: yep it was a D6.

[This message has been edited by pianodano (edited 03-22-2005).]

[This message has been edited by pianodano (edited 03-22-2005).]

Danny, that's an awesome setup. I'd kill to get my hands on that these days. Probably would cost a fortune.

Al

If you've never seen or played a Clavinet D6, you are surely missing something. I had the opportunity to play one for a few while back in the day and, believe me, it was a sound and a keyboard unto itself. The keyboard feel was unique and the sound was very touch sensitive. It was a bitch to keep tuned, but that was part of the beauty of it too. The original funky sounds you hear on 'records' were a mix of sound and feel. None of the clavinet simulations I have had on other keyboards evens comes close. My VR760 is pretty good, but still no Clavinet.

I even ownet a Pianet for a few years. Interesting piano keyboard without an amp or pre-amp. Played like a guitar and was very difficult to EQ.

doesn't beat a stage 73 rhodes (with the dyno kit)


peace,out

Danny, that's an awesome setup. I'd kill to get my hands on that these days. Probably would cost a fortune.

Al