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Hohner Pianet

The Hohner Pianet is a type of electro-mechanical piano built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany and designed by Ernst Zacharias. The Pianet was a variant of his earlier reed-based Hohner electric piano, the Cembalet, which, like the Pianet, was intended for home use. Hohner offered both keyboards in their range until 1968. The Pianet production consisted of two distinctly different mechanism groups with characteristically different sound. The first group, lasting from introduction to 1977, had ground stainless steel reeds, a pick-up using variable capacitance, and leather-faced activation pads. The second group from 1977 until the end of production used rolled spring-steel reeds, electro-magnetic pick-ups, and moulded silicone rubber activation pads.

Hohner Pianet

1962 - 1983[1]

Full

Electromechanical

60 or 61 keys

Features[edit]

The Hohner Pianet is an electro-mechanical instrument, and needs to be connected to an amplifier to produce an audible sound. It had 61 keys ranging from F1 to F6 (43.6 Hz – 1396.9 Hz).[2] Later models had 60 keys, missing the top F.[3] Each key is a single lever element pivoted on a fulcrum point with a spring to return it to the rest position. The key is extended at the rear so that a pad can be mounted over a tuned spring steel reed.[4] This pad adheres to the reed when at rest, and lifts and releases the reed causing it to vibrate when the key is depressed.[5] The vibration of the reed is converted to an electrical signal by a pick-up. The resulting sound has a complex mixture of harmonics when the reed is first struck, which later reduces to a cleaner sustained tone.[4]


Early Pianets feature a knee lever volume control.[2] The early 1960s Pianets (Pianet, Pianet C, Pianet CH, and Pianet N) featured lids which opened in an upright 'V' to form a music stand. This feature was introduced on Cembalets and became common to both instruments.[6] The C and N models were equipped with a vibrato circuit operated by a switch mounted next to the keyboard. The N models used a variable-resistance volume pedal cabled to a socket on the rear of the keyboard.

History[edit]

1960s[edit]

The Pianet evolved from the earlier Cembalet, introduced in 1958. Both instruments were designed by Ernst Zacharias.[5] Zacharias became interested in keyboard instruments such as the clavichord, harpsichord and organ as a teenager, and studied electrical engineering at the University of Kiel. He began working for Hohner in 1954 after meeting designer Siegfried Mager.[7]

Users[edit]

Early Pianets were used on a number of hit recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, including "She's Not There" by The Zombies; "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen; "I Am the Walrus", "Getting Better", "The Night Before", "Tell Me What You See", "You Like Me Too Much" by The Beatles; "This Guy's in Love With You" by Herb Alpert; "These Eyes" by The Guess Who; and "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night. In the glam rock era, the Pianet was used by Bryan Ferry on the first few Roxy Music albums, for instance featuring prominently in their hit "Editions of You". It was a staple of the "classic lineup" sound of Curved Air (1970–1972), featuring prominently on their first 3 albums, played by both guitarist/keyboardist Francis Monkman and violinist Darryl Way. The 1972–74 lineup of progressive rock pioneers King Crimson used a pair of Pianets in live performance, played both by the group's violinist David Cross, and the guitarist, Robert Fripp[1]. Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks used the Pianet prominently in the group's early career, as a lead instrument through a homemade fuzz box.[12]


Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie was a noted proponent of the Pianet N and Combo Pianet from the first group of products. In an article written by Bob Doerschuk in the October 1980 issue of Contemporary Keyboard she outlined why she preferred the sound of the 1960s Pianets and why she eventually replaced them.


The Pianet is enjoying a renaissance (e.g. Bugge Wesseltoft's Change) due to its unique sound and the availability of new pads for the earlier models, most of which had been reduced to unplayability due to pad decay. It is also popular as a substitute for the Wurlitzer electric piano, which has a related reed-based mechanism for generating sound but is typically much heavier, requires more maintenance than the Pianet, and is overall more expensive.

Restoration issues[edit]

Following the end of production, replacement parts for Pianets became progressively harder to find because they were no longer being supported by Hohner. The principal problem was the activation pads for 1960s-manufactured models, which used a Urethane foam damper behind the leather surface. This decomposed with age, making the pads unusable. Hohner intended the pads to be a service-replaceable item (like the strings of a guitar), and sold spares while the instrument was in production. After the supply ran out, restorers and players had to create their own pads.[13]


The second group of Pianets, the T and M, used silicone rubber for their pads. They have aged extremely well and are still functional in most keyboards, as of 2012. The silicone pads of the T & M are not suitable for the 1960s Pianets. Their adhesion properties don't suit the ground reeds of the first group of instruments, and they produce a static discharge that is amplified by the capacitive pick-up of the instrument. In the 2000s, a number of businesses took up the servicing and maintenance of vintage keyboards, so pads suitable for both groups of Pianets are now available.


The mechanical structure of keys, pivot rail, reeds, reed bar and pick-up are the same in the 1960s Pianets from the "Mk.1" and C to the Combo, so spares to get a Pianet working can come from most models. While the electronics differ from model to model, they can be exchanged if the aim is to make a keyboard playable rather than to restore it.

. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014.

"Robert Fripp's Diary: Tuesday, 15th September 1998"

Pressed+metal 2003/228/1 Electric keyboard, Hohner Pianet, timber / metal / plastic, designed by Ernst Zacharias, made by Hohner AG, West Germany, 1962–1970 Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia

Detail pictures of a Pianet T and a Cembalet.

Manufacturer's replacement pads for all Pianets

Manufacturer's replica replacement pads for group one 1960s Pianets C, L, N (versions I & II), Combo Pianet.

Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine

Contemporary Keyboard (10/1980), Christine McVie