I'm getting too old for this crud.

[RABid]

(Quoting Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory in the title.)

 

Maybe 15 years ago on the board I would read post by people complaining about the weight of their 40+ lbs hammer action pianos and think "bunch of whimps." I've hauled a Rhodes Chroma built into a flight case, Memory Moog, a big Fender Rhodes, Hammond, and played with someone using a CP-70. 40lbs is nothing. Watching people complain about a 30 lbs synth was laughable.

 

Today my Fantom 7 arrived. I unboxed it on the porch, carried the keyboard through the house and up the stairs to my man cave. Hefted it upon the stand, went downstairs, took a nap. The dang thing weighs 39.5 lbs. I'm never moving it again. Just like my RD-2000 and my XK-3c with extra manual. Some day my heirs can deal with them. I've already looked. The Fantom 07 is 15 lbs and the MODX6+ is the same. One of those will be my next purchase. I've aged into a whimp and it is time to own it. Took a Jupiter Xm (9 lbs) to church today and told them that is what I will use to cover horn parts for the choir during the Christmas season.

[obxa]

It's the reality.  Be grateful to still be playing.😀

 

I wonder how  I used to carry my Wurli and OBxa up two flights of stairs  every night after gigs when I lived in NYC.

 

I'm not ashamed to ask for help.  Luckily most theater gigs have stage hands, and most bands I work with are decent chaps.  Though I suspect they feel sorry for the "older"guy.  I've switched over to weighted 73 keys  on  bottom/piano  boards, and everything else is fairly light. Use IEMs when possible.   Nord Stage 88 lives at my church gig. 

 

Solo gigs can be a challenge, but with my new devil may-care MO of going through the front door of hotels and venues- life has gotten easier.  I no longer ask about the load-in on gigs.  Because the default answer is always the loading dock/kitchen.  

[Docbop]

I know how you feel both my keyboards are wood key hammer action and around 40 lbs each.   Hard part I can't figure out one is MIDI controller and it weighs as much as my stage piano.  I think back of my roadie days and all the gear I could lift and carry and now a 40lb keyboard is an hassle.  

 

Where I laugh my ass off is on computer sites and people whining about 2 lb laptops or 5 lb 16" Macbook, go to a gym if 5lb is an issue for you.   Worse is the constant whining about fingerprints on thing designed to be carried in your hand.   

[CyberGene]

This is why I bought a CK61. Thank me later 😀

[ProfD]

2 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

This is why I bought a CK61. Thank me later 😀

Not so fast.  The key action on that thing is horrible.🤣😎

[ElmerJFudd]

It’s unfortunate. 
 

Perhaps there are instruments we love to play that should stay still.  And ones that sound good that are meant to carry around.  And this becomes more apparent with age. 
 

The alternative is to take up strength training to slow down the inevitable.  Or, get a good cart with bungie cords.  Or both! 

[bill5]

Count your blessings. You could be a tuba player.

[drawback]

2 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Not so fast.  The key action on that thing is horrible.🤣😎

Compared to the YC61, it’s premium. 😎

[timwat]

Yup, this forum is full of KB players of a certain age. My schlep history includes a band that gigged CS80, CP70, B3, Leslie...all in Anvil cases having to go up stairs. The band before that I was gigging 10 keyboards, and a full stereo PA as my monitoring. And those stories are pretty common on this forum. We all did it.

 

Now, I'm one or two boards. I'd like to monitor IEM only, but as a gun-for-hire it's not always up to my choice. I've GASsed like most of us on the latest, lightest, newest releases...but realize that frankly any upgrade to my current rig will only be appreciated by me. So that money is going to get spent on my wife.

 

If it sits in the studio only, that's a different story. But it's getting harder and harder to think about any new purchases with what I already own and don't use frequently.

[ElmerJFudd]

1 minute ago, bill5 said:

Count your blessings. You could be a tuba player.

Or the drummer or the sound guy.  Most to carry, first to arrive, last to leave. 

[CyberGene]

8 minutes ago, ProfD said:

The key action on that thing is horrible

I’ve asked my L5/S1 disc and he said he loved It 😀 Who am I to argue…

[David Emm]

I understand all too well. I hauled a Korg workstation around in a NON-wheeled case for a while. I blame part of my back issues on that one. However, the winner is the time I helped a pal get a Rhodes into a venue. I made a bad lifting move, which caused one of my nads to pop out, shoot across the room and blind the drummer in one eye. The plastic replacement reminds me of that wretched day all over again when it gets cold. Its like sitting on an ice pack. 🥶

[RABid]

22 minutes ago, bill5 said:

Count your blessings. You could be a tuba player.

When I joined high school band as a 13 year old runt I was assigned bass drum. That thing was huge. I, and everyone else in marching band, will never forget the day we were marching in a Christmas parade. I stepped on an icy spot and suddenly I was flat on my back, struggling to get out from under that bass drum. A trumpet player was standing behind me, looking down and saying "What do I do? What do I do?" Someone said "go around him." I'm thinking "No! Don't leave me here."

[Stokely]

I maintain it's just as much the form factor and bulk as it is the weight.   My Moxf8 was harder to move and handle by far than my Forte 7, despite the Forte outweighing it by 10 pounds or so.   And much easier to drop and harder to get a confident grip on it due to the angles of the outside.

I'd try out the Modx and Fantom-0 before deciding on it though.  I never really warmed to the Modx7, it feels like a toy and it's so light that I had issues at one windy outdoor gig.  Certainly easy to manhandle, there are holes and ridges on the underside and I can literally pick it up with a thumb and forefinger and wave it around (not that I would, but I can pick it up that way to get it into it's bag).   My current Nord Stage 3 compact is a perfect weight + build quality for me.  Feels quality, has some heft to it but is compact (hence the name) and not heavy.  And no wall wart.
 

[Delaware Dave]

i would still like to use a tube leslie but the only reasonably weighted tube leslie is the Tornado T115 (in the 60 something pound range).  A 145 is no longer a reality.  I would still like to use my L100p but I gave up moving that 15 years ago.  My stage piano (72 pounds that has my favorite piano sound/feel) I gave up moving when I bought my PC3 in 2011.  I can still move the stuff but the next day and for a week my back will lock up like a vice.  It's part of the getting old process. At one time many years ago I gigged with all the electro-mechanicals and a large power amp and large 3-way speakers all packed in a trailer.  I would never go back to that again even if I could (unless a roadie moved it all for me). Thanks to Guido and the Gemini module (other than missing a real tube leslie) my latest rig is the best sounding since those days. So two keyboards (11 and 37 pounds) and one 37 pound monitor gets me through my shows.

 

Welcome to the club!

[felis]

21 minutes ago, Stokely said:

I maintain it's just as much the form factor and bulk as it is the weight.....

 

I've found that to be true for every keyboard I've had.  For me, it's not so much the weight. 

They're just awkward and unwieldy, especially when carried by hand and trying to navigate stairs with corners.

The heavier ones need to be held dead center when hand carried or they'll go off balance and maybe bring you along with them.

 

Being a home player, I've never had a wheeled cart - always carried by hand. 

Once in place, I don't move them often.  I also never had a real heavy board, say 60 pounds or more.

 

But being on the older side now, I'm really happy with my 19.4 lb. PC4-7. 

My drum sets are another story though.

[CHarrell]

1 hour ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Or, get a good cart with bungie cords.  Or both! 

 

After shopping around for like every keyboard on the planet, I realized that CP88 is really the one for me (maybe with a software piano sound to replace the internal ones though...). At this point, I'm just going to suck up the weight, I think I'm gonna finally invest in a cart that so many of y'all have been talking about.

[ElmerJFudd]

10 minutes ago, CHarrell said:

 

After shopping around for like every keyboard on the planet, I realized that CP88 is really the one for me (maybe with a software piano sound to replace the internal ones though...). At this point, I'm just going to suck up the weight, I think I'm gonna finally invest in a cart that so many of y'all have been talking about.

It’s a compact weight. It’s not difficult to lift from the case and get it up on the stand.   But I prefer a case with wheels or a cart for it.  

[cphollis]

Learn to play the harmonica.

[wd8dky]

22 minutes ago, Dave Ferris said:

I will say that going to the gym even once a week for 45 minutes to an hour and even doing light weight on the machines and dumb bells makes a HUGE difference

 

Absolutely agreed.  I've been very active all my life, including now.  I have a herniated L4-L5 disc, but practice my back PT along with my workouts.  I guess I'm lucky that  keyboards and PAs still don't scare me. 

[Outkaster]

My YC88 isn't that bad and great for most bands.

[Reezekeys]

I made my peace with 61-note unweighted keyboards starting with an Edirol PCR-M80 in 2006 - 17 years ago. I used to carry a Rhodes, Yam CP70 and an OBXa, then a KX88 (which I brought to Europe – in a Calzone case – for a few tours back in the late 1980s. The combo was 100 lbs). I put in my time. Now it's a 10lb keyboard and two 12 lb speakers. All my sounds can live on a 7-year old iPhone that fits in my jeans pocket, and they sound as good or better than any of the gear I've ever owned, imo of course.

[Justin Havu]

1 hour ago, Dave Ferris said:

I will say that going to the gym even once a week for 45 minutes to an hour and even doing light weight on the machines and dumb bells makes a HUGE difference. I'm a super lightweight there but just doing what I do, low weight, high reps, it just makes all the difference in the world.

 

This.  In addition to running, which I enjoy a lot, I started strength-training a couple of months ago, with the same idea as yourself: lighter weights, more reps, and I definitely feel stronger for it.  Anything to keep from having to purchase and gig a Privia.

 

However, I'll need to take a month or two off from that due to recovering from a recent epigastric hernia surgery.  Not a big deal, I just can't lift anything over 15-20 lbs for 4-6 weeks.

[allan_evett]

Back in the early-to-mid 1990s I schlepped a Fatar Studio 1100R (with Yamaha P50 module on it), O1-W Pro, and sometimes an OB-Xa 8-voice. Ofen an original DX7 made it into the rig as well; so double stack, L-shaped craziness. The OB was a beast in its Anvil case. The others were in hardshell ATA cases, so not super-light either. Though I started limiting my live rig to two keyboards around 2001 (sometimes with a module or two), a Kurzweil K2500XS was briefly a part of that; then it stayed home for good, until being sold around 2008. With some variations between then and now, I pretty much stick with one or two 'boards live. And the current rig is downright svelte: A CK88 and Stage 4 Compact. My Fantom 7 now seems massive, in comparison.  And this past Saturday I went strictly wih the Stage 4 Compact. Though I can still lift reaonably well, I have felt slightly off balance, post-stroke, mostly due to the drug combination I'm on. So Stage 4 Compact it was, along with a small, powered Mackie cabinet. Wish I'd brought my powered EV wedge though; it's not much heavier.

 

I was in reasonable shape for years, though not in the work-out level of shape I used to be in. Along with some highly recommended dietary changes, I've started fast walking again. Have been taking the dogs on long walks, then dropping them at home and doing a round of fast walking - but building back up carefully. Want to also work back into resistance training; the free YMCA membership I can get through Medicare Advantage will help with that. While I'm not planning extensive dual-gig weekends with country bar bands again, I'd still like to gig out again a few times a month, and be able to move a light-to-medium weight rig on my own. 

[D. Gauss]

One of the bands i play in, the drummer pays a roadie who sets up and tears down all his gear.  this is for super crappy bar gigs, not theaters.  i'm pretty sure he loses money on the gig, but i am a bit envious when he casually walks out the door after the last note of the show.

[CEB]

I'm still okay with 45 pound boards or less.  My Kronos 2-88 seemed ridiculously heavy.  But I recently replaced the Gator case with an SKB case.  The case isn't any lighter but I think the board is way better balanced in the SKB case.  It seems to have helped.  It's still heavy but I manage it better for now.   I am a hell out a lot stronger at load in than load out.

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GTSA88Key

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SKB5820W--skb-1skb-5820w-88-key-ata-keyboard-case

[CHarrell]

4 hours ago, Dave Ferris said:

I'm a super lightweight there but just doing what I do, low weight, high reps, it just makes all the difference in the world.

 

I'm curious, why not low reps with high weight (like 4 sets of 8)?

[Paul Woodward]

10 hours ago, CyberGene said:

This is why I bought a CK61. Thank me later 😀

YC is just a kilo heavier and that’s the aluminium Road worthy casing.

[tapes]

10 hours ago, ProfD said:

Not so fast.  The key action on that thing is horrible.🤣😎

 

I'm looking for a portable (max 28 lbs / 13 kg) budget option for a stage type piano (internal sounds, no MIDI controllers), mostly to take to rehearsals and some gigs. I've been considering the CK88. To be fair, I haven't played the CK series at all yet in person, but is it really that bad?

 

I would replace my current stage piano altogether with a Nord Stage 4, but I just can't do $5k right now.

 

Would you pick a MODX8+ over a CK88? I already have a synth version Montage (1st Gen) so I'm very familiar with the architecture, and have tons of user sounds and Live Sets - would be a convenient option in that way.

[CyberGene]

1 minute ago, tapes said:

I've been considering the CK88. To be fair, I haven't played the CK series at all yet in person, but is it really that bad?

I think he meant the non-weighted action in the CK61. The CK88 has a hammer action which is not bad. I’d also consider the Numa X Piano 73 or 88.