110 Lb Acoustic Piano

[uhoh7]

I stumbled over this today, and it dropped my jaw:

Keybird X1 Lightweight Piano

From the article:

The innovative new piano, the Keybird X1, addresses the size, weight, and of course price issues. As a result, this upright will fit into an average family car, one person can move it, and it costs under 2,000 euros!

 

To achieve this, Keybird"s designers completely re-wrote the rule book. The piano is split into two main modules â the keyboard (including the action) and the soundbody (strings, soundboard, frame and case). These weigh 15 kg, and 35 kg respectively. New materials are employed throughout, and some traditional elements such as the casework have been 're-imagined'.

 

keybird-X1 by unoh7, on Flickr

[uhoh7]

I found some more on this thing:

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

 

And....a real demo:

[video:youtube]

 

I can't believe it's taken till 2020 for somebody to do this.

[Morrissey]

That is a gig-able acoustic piano!!!

[stillearning]

That is a gig-able acoustic piano!!!

I would want to know how well it holds tune before I would want to gig it. Even though it"s single strung, it would still take time. Going from cold to warm, I"d imagine one would have to let it temp stabilize before tuning, assuming it would require it.

 

But it is damn cool!

[uhoh7]

That is a gig-able acoustic piano!!!

For 1/3 the price of a Moog One

 

We need to encourage this direction and maybe we will get some good clavichords with Osmose-style vibrato at 80lbs or so. Maybe with onboard mics and some basic effects to make it work everywhere.

 

That is a gig-able acoustic piano!!!

I would want to know how well it holds tune before I would want to gig it. Even though it"s single strung, it would still take time. Going from cold to warm, I"d imagine one would have to let it temp stabilize before tuning, assuming it would require it.

 

But it is damn cool!

One string is much easier to tune than three (I'm tuning my own last 2 years) and those little E-tuners guitar players use might be used in some form onboard. The strings themselves also make a big diff, as I'm learning on my new violins, Gut is always stretching, but synthetic cores can be pretty stable once they break in.

 

Ideally the middle octaves would have two strings, a la lute, IMHO

[MathOfInsects]

That's clever AF. Great stage optics too. But obviously limited to piano-only gigs, for which the price point would seem to make it the heaviest, most expensive, least practical and least versatile option for most players.

 

Still, it's sort of inherently bad-ass.

[cp-the-nerd]

That is super cool. It looks interesting and attractive as a fixture in a modern home aesthetic. I could see myself considering one.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Hmm, and appropriately showing up after I've been rehearsing in a piano/bass/drums format again... when gigs come back, this will be frighteningly tempting!

[AnotherScott]

That is a gig-able acoustic piano!!!

After you put pickups in it!

 

What also intrigues me here, though, is the real full-sized hammer action that folds into an easily carryable piece and weighs 15 kg (33 lbs). If they added sensors/MIDI to that, that could be potentially be the basis for a great feeling MIDI controller to gig with.

 

I'm also enjoying seeing the 69 keys. I've mentioned before that my idea of the smallest "satisfactory" keyboard would be 69 keys, E to C. And here it is!

[MAJUSCULE]

Well I'll be damned.

[Delaware Dave]

I'd still prefer to see this...

[AUSSIEKEYS]

How the "helpinstill" can they sell them so cheap?

 

 

And it includes shipping (well not to Aussie obviously but thats amazing value

 

Seems very reasonable to me (without having seen its quality)

 

Good luck to them I hope they develope more stuff too.

 

Edit: from the videos on their actual website I really like its sound.

 

Shipping to Australia is expensive.

[cphollis]

If they execute on this concept, I think they'll find a market -- both for the home market and performers as well. So much better than those plastic grand shells

 

General construction would be a concern, obviously, as I'd be transporting it frequently. Having a built-in pickup/preamp/EQ would be nice as well.

 

And, yes, tuning would DEFINITELY be a concern. Me between songs: "hey, can you hold up the next song while I tune a few of my piano strings?" Much more effective at driving people insane than tuning a guitar onstage.

 

Other than that, this definitely has my eye!

[MAJUSCULE]

Checked out the demos now and it's definitely super intriguing. Bass doesn't sound amazing but that's totally understandable. I could see a small/medium more serious venue having one as backline, I'm sure plenty of artists would love it.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

If they execute on this concept, I think they'll find a market -- both for the home market and performers as well. So much better than those plastic grand shells

 

General construction would be a concern, obviously, as I'd be transporting it frequently.

 

I do agree im not sure how it would fare if you gigged even just once a week with it. Moving around in a car like on their website would mean being very careful driving around with the keybed placed on the frame. You can see they placed it gingerly on the frame in the car. As i watched i thought watch that next speed hump.

 

But changing it to be more protected like the helpinstill would destroy its lightweight factor.

 

But as it sits without real world gigging experience it is truley an amazing thing. My take is this is perfect for the flat living person who has say an end of lease move every 6 months. If its giggable constantly thatd be the icing on the cake.

 

Its still a bargain for a flat dwelling piano lover.

[mate stubb]

Moe approves!

[KuruPrionz]

Awesome!

 

Decades ago I saw a hippie at Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco make bank busking with a large suitcase sized "harpsichord". All wood.

He played classical music, very well. People were dropping twenties into his jar right and left.

 

When the jar was full he closed the lid, got up off the sidewalk, grabbed the handle of the instrument and went away.

[miden]

TBH honest and , well, blunt...I thought it sounded pretty ordinary in that video...

[Josh Paxton]

While I have no immediate use for this, it is pretty friggin' cool. If I were into busking I'd get one in a heartbeat.

[AnotherScott]

TBH honest and , well, blunt...I thought it sounded pretty ordinary in that video...

It sounded richer than I expected for a 1-string-per-key design. In a living room, I suspect it will sound better (i.e. more authentically like a real piano) than any similarly priced digital piano + pair of stereo speakers (or console style DP with built-in speakers), even though those DPs may be playing samples of more "extraordinary" pianos. The action will probably be better too... it will probably also *feel* more like playing, well, a real piano. If 69 keys will carry you, I think it has the potential to be the best home piano experience you could get at its price (not counting maybe getting something used). But maybe I'm just infatuated. ;-)

[Morrissey]

maybe I'm just infatuated. ;-)

 

+1. I'm way into this.

[Threadslayer]

The open frame architecture looks very cool, but way to exposed for a gigging situation. It would certainly need a hard shell case or two which would detract from the 110 lbs, fits in a sedan narrative.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

While I have no immediate use for this, it is pretty friggin' cool. If I were into busking I'd get one in a heartbeat.

Yes, there's the ideal use case. As much as I'd love to use one on a gig, it would be tricky to get to work in any amplified setting, even a Ben Folds Five-esque trio without a guitarist to compete with.

[Radagast]

Where do I put the sheet music? There"s no music rack. How much would an 88 key version weigh and how much would it cost?

[David Emm]

Its a lovely piece of work with a great design and a worthy voice. My one real issue with it is simply that you can't expect to get a thunderous bass from the lower end. That's not a flaw at all, because the real goals are met. It simply haunts me a bit to see it, because part of my back issues surely come from pushing a Helpinstill-equipped upright and then a traveling tack piano around for a while. I was the kind of small-time roadie for whom Dave Stewart probably penned "The Mind Your Backs Tango."

 

Charlie still makes great pickups, BTW. Worth a look if you have the need.

 

Helpinstill

[AnotherScott]

My one real issue with it is simply that you can't expect to get a thunderous bass from the lower end.

They have a clever way of mitigating that problem. They leave out all the bass keys, so you can't be disappointed by their lack of bass. ;-)

[Gretel]

I guess the ideal use case is people who live in an apartment and still want an acoustic piano. It"s probably quite a bit quieter than an ordinary acoustic piano. Also easier to relocate with.

 

Other than that: I wish they would charge more for it. I guess it is basically handmade because of the low numbers that they will most likely sell, and at 2000 this seems like they will hardly make any profit.

[Doug Robinson]

Want. Cool.

[AnotherScott]

I guess the ideal use case is people who live in an apartment and still want an acoustic piano. It"s probably quite a bit quieter than an ordinary acoustic piano. Also easier to relocate with.

A good number of people buy console-style digital pianos for their home. While a $2k Yamaha, Kawai, or Casio console may be very nice, I think I'd rather have this.

[stoken6]

A version with built-in pickups would be cool for amplified gigging musicians (when gigs return). But as a home piece, I question the value prop: conventional uprights are given away free, so why spend $2k? (I can see the case for someone who changes home a lot, but $2k buys a lot of piano movers).

 

I have absolutely no need for this, and yet I completely love it. This would have absolutely killed in the 1970s and 1980s as a stage piano.

 

Cheers, Mike.