The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi ,
I was wondering if anyone has played a Hohner Pianette ? All I know is it's a very basic " electric " piano , microphonic I think , and pretty heavy for the size of it . This one doesn't have any thing other than a socket at the back to plug into an amp . Theres no controls at all on it . I'm not much of a player but would like to get something which I could bring to gigs a few months down the road . So I was wondering would it be worth going after this or would one of the lower end casios be a better idea . Thanks in advance .
Ingo .

I'm no keyboard player either, but the Pianet
was a classic 60's instrument. If it's in working order and cheap, it could be worth buying and hanging onto. On the other hand, if you want a 21st. century gigging machine with all the latest sounds, look elsewhere.

I seem to recall the "action" consisted of a simple lever with a sticky pad on the other end which stuck to a reed (similar to a harmonica reed); as you press the key, the stickiness of the pad is overcome, and the reed is "twanged". I imagine that these pads wear out... which is why I mentioned "working order" above.

If you want to hear what a Pianet sounds like, check out the late 60's recordings by
The Small Faces (e.g. introduction to Lazy Sunday Afternoon). I think they sound great.
Sort of a pre-cursor to a Wurlitzer piano.

Cheers,
Dave.

Hello Dave ,
Thank you very much for the reply , I appreciate it . There's two keys which don't work on it , probably easy enough to fix but the price might be a little too rich on this for me .
I actually bought my first steel in Leeds a few years ago in the Music Ground .
Thanks again for the reply Dave ,
Ingo .
( That's a great song too . )<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Ingo Mamczak on 15 January 2001 at 07:40 PM.]</p></FONT>

There are dozens of electronic keyboards available that give all sorts of sounds. I wouldn't pick something that had only one voice unless it was free. Would you rather have versatility, or do you just like one particular sound?