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Chapter 27 EVD6 503
A Brief History of the Clavinet
German Company, Hohner, was the manufacturer of the Clavinet. Hohner were known
mainly for their reed instruments (harmonicas, accordions, melodicas, and so on), but
had made several “classic” keyboards, prior to the first incarnation of the Clavinet,
known as the “Cembalet”.
Musician and inventor, Ernst Zacharias, designed the Cembalet in the 1950’s. This was
intended to be a portable, amplifiable version of the Cembalo, or Harpsichord. It’s
mechanism worked by plucking the end of a flat reed with the key, which was then
picked up and amplified in much the same way as an electric guitar.
A year or two after the Cembalet’s release, two “Pianet” models appeared. Both the “CH”
and “N” models used flat reeds for tone generation, but employed a very different
plucking/striking action. When a key was depressed, it engaged a “sticky pad” with a
foam backing, which actually stuck to the reed. When the key was released, the weight
of the key caused the pad adhesive to free itself from the reed. This made the reed
vibrate, and this vibration was then amplified.
The model “T” Pianet was released several years later, and utilized a soft rubber “suction
pad” on the reeds, rather than the adhesive of the “CH” and “N” models. This method
still had several drawbacks, however, as the dynamics available from the keyboard were
limited. As a further shortcoming, all reeds were damped on release, thus negating the
possibility of obtaining sustain via a foot pedal. Despite these glaring problems, the
sound of the model “T” Pianet was popularized by bands such as the Zombies and
Small Faces, in the 1960’s.
In the years between the releases of the Pianet “N” and “T” models, Zachariah invented
what was to become Hohner’s most successful, and certainly funkiest keyboard—the
Clavinet. The Clavinet was designed to replicate the sound of a Clavichord, but with an
altogether fuller sound. (The Clavichord was notoriously thin sounding)
Original image from the
D6 Users Manual.