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Thanks. Great suggestion. I had a lesson this morning and mentioned possibility of taking a roll up on vacation. Teacher said same thing . Will mess with my chops. There are a couple of piano stores in New Orleans that rent studio time.
Definitely look into that.

I believe the fee is a little more than that, but perhaps you have more experience in this area that I?

Kind regards,
James
x

There's a few threads on this forum discussing why the manufacturers cannot have lower key weights:

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/printthread/Board/3/main/84446/type/thread.html

Basically any lower and the parts wear out too fast, and they are therefore too expensive to maintain.

Ideally you want about 40 grams down weight across the entire keyboard. Instead of the 48-52? grams of Steinway Ds.

I think some Yamaha digitals (685?) have a 55-60 gram down weight. Obese to the tune of 50%.

Thanks, I'll see if I can find those to test.

I assume they don't have short keys? (length to pivot point)

From your response in another thread, you may find them equally "unplayable at the back of the keys" as NWX. NW-Stage and BHE are exactly the same, just without grading.

Can I ask, does the gun case raise any questions at the airport / in public?

I’ve traveled with a Soloette travel classical guitar carried in a gun case on a number of airplanes and trains. Nobody has ever questioned me about it. A stewardess on one Air France flight found a place for it in the crew’s closet and told me she had the same guitar and case for traveling.

Same here, no issues traveling with the Go Piano in a gun case. I did plaster the case with stickers from Beethoven and Chopin to AC/DC and Van Halen, so it really looks like an instrument case.

How funny, I am trying to do the same with my GO:Piano and the same case. I need more stickers but I am getting there.

My little GO:Piano is growing on me. I don't really play on it but for trying to figure out fingering, ear training and scales it is a very good tool.

For anyone still looking for creative solutions, you can daisy chain 2 Seaboard Blocks for 4 octaves:
https://roli.com/products/blocks/seaboard-block

Should make for a portable solution.

Looks like Lumi snaps together magnetically as well:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playlumi/lumi-the-smarter-way-to-learn-and-play-music

$367 for two of them at the Kickstarter price.

Interesting, but I'm concerned the multi-colored keys could prove distracting.

It's all customizable, it can be used in professional applications as a normal MIDI keyboard with normal MIDI programs. You can also dock it with other stuff.



Snapping two of them together for 48 keys seems like the sweet spot, although you can go all the way up to 96.

That looks like something fun to play with but has zero benefits for a piano student.
(except ear training)

Definitely something to consider when we are away and there is no access to piano!

If anybody wants to practice on the road with an old school wooden keyboard, you’ve got one day to win this one on eBay:

Old School Wooden Practice Keyboard Auction

The biggest issue I'd have with Lumi is that the keys are small. For any type of practice, but especially if we're talking about figuring out fingering, full size keys seem like a must have for a portable piano practice solution (in the context of this thread, not for general playing with a keyboard needs.)

I'm ordering a gun case for my GoPiano so I have it to take with me to Germany next month, I'd seen this idea before, but didn't realize how cheap they'd gotten now (the last time I saw a thread on this they were $100+.) Thanks Groove On!

Just got back from a short (one week) vacation at a holiday cottage. Yamaha p-45 did the job just fine. I have an Audi A3 and it sits behind the seats in the back seat footwells just right. I put all my "bits and pieces" stuff in the footwell first and just loaded the keyboard (in a cheap case) on top.

Only thing I think I will do is get a cheap X-Stand and take that with me. I had to balance the keyboard between two beds and sit on a small chair in the middle to get the heights right.

But practicing worked. I came back with something I was practicing better than before I went.

Really love the Go Piano/gun case setup but one downside is the weight of the plastic, all by itself my case weighs 35 pounds / 16 kilos; (with the Go Piano approx. 45 lbs / 20 kilos). That weight is usually all right for international travel, but it can take up the entire weight allowance of a local flight.

I now also have a Reface CP; it's great and fits in standard check-in luggage; but the 61-key full-sized keys makes a difference for me (I wish I could fold the Go Piano in half).

Currently I'm shopping for a durable / soft rifle case that weighs about 4 pounds / 2-3 kilos - and then I will re-enforce the interior with some sort of rigid material to protect the keyboard for check-in. I'm hoping to drop the overall weight down to around 15 pounds / 7 kilos so it's more manageable.

That certainly puts things in perspective in terms of the Piano de Voyage which weighs around 7 pounds / 3 kilos and the Osprey Farpoint 40 backpack which weighs 3 pounds/1.5 kilos for a total of 10 pounds / 5 kilos. I’ll hold out for that solution to my travel practice needs.