Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Interesting alternative to a DP: a 110 lb acoustic piano

I don't think I've seen this mentioned here... a 110 lb acoustic piano which breaks into two smaller/lighter pieces for transport, costing under 2,000 euros.

It obviously can't replace everyone's need for a DP... notably, it has only 69 keys and one string per key, and no silent mode and no MIDI. And it will need to be periodically tuned.

But at that price (new), I suspect it may well be the best feeling and most authentic sounding option compared to any comparably priced (or even substantially more expensive) DP.

https://www.worldpianonews.com/new-product/keybird-x1-lightweight-acoustic-piano/

No way, simply amazing! Thanks for posting it. It's basically a cheaper version of the Klavins Una corda. They should also make a grand version, in two pieces, where the strings/frame can be bolted/folded to a grand action.

As with digital pianos, everyone needs to play this before deciding iwhether the action is right for them.

I fully respect the person who invented this piano but am not automatically optimistic about the "acoustic action" just because most of the full-size spinets I've played in the past never sounded or felt nearly as good as even my MP11se (which happens to cost about the same as this piano).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is exactly what I want, but it must have 88 keys and a shell. Moisture is the enemy.

Wow that is so cool!

If they make a version with 88 keys that would be a killer product!

I love it. Excellent for apartments and for learning to tune piano also. Price is fantastic. Because of long strings it sounds very good. I would buy almost blindly just because it is practical. I don`t expect top quality for that money but I would place my trust in Denmark top carpentry experience and well known school of excellent hifi sounds.

It has only one pedal, damper i think. But what about the cabinet? Without it the sound ought to be really different from a piano. Any video or sound testing?

This is home page, scroll down, you have 4 videos

https://keybird-instruments.com/english/home

Sort of a 21st century re-conceptualization of a Rhodes.

Third party review will be more interesting.

Sort of a 21st century re-conceptualization of a Rhodes - very true. I owned a 76-note Fender Rhodes years ago and loved it but would I want it to replace any of my acoustic or digital pianos? Absolutely not!

It's kinda funny how we plead with everyone to "please try before you buy!" even a $500 dp, but are very quick to throw that advice out the window because...

Maybe I'm old and have gotten excited once too many times but I've been disappointed with too many small acoustic pianos and most digital pianos to jump up and down before actually playing one. I would like very much to be wrong!

I don't see the Rhodes parallel at all! If you're going to compare it to a Rhodes (no sound board, insignificant volume unless amplified), a closer match would be a Yamaha Electric Grand or a Baldwin Electropiano. At least those used strings, and sounded more like pianos than vibes. ;-)

I believe Sweelinck was just referring to Fender's claim when they came out with the Rhodes and not any kind of a direct comparison between the 2.

I personally can't wait to read your reviews after having owned this piano!

Well, I said "sort of". The parallel is in reducing the size and weight of a piano to make it portable.

Ah, yes. That was the inventor's intent. Kind of like how a mellotron was supposed to provide the sounds of orchestration. Neither sounded like what it was designed to emulate, but both ended up becoming classic sounds in their own right!

Defects:

- only 69 keys; that's limiting for serious classical piano learning...
- just 1 pedal; that's limiting for serious classical piano learning...
- only 1 string per note;
- the upper range has very short sustain, as in a cheap upright;
- I fear it has poor dynamics (as in cheap uprights).
- no dust cover;

My conclusion:
For about the same money a digital piano is better. For example, a Kawai CA59 or a Yamaha CLP745. And if you want an acoustic, you can find some great deals in the used market. So, IMHO, if they don't fix the above issues I think that product is doomed to fail.

Maybe it should be considered a (piano family related) instrument of its own.

But for many it could a substitute for an upright. Even those are sometimes found to be unnecessary loud for living rooms in small(ish) apartments and then their sound is muffled by the "practice pedal".

There was a tiny "Fazer Mignon" spinet decades ago. A few variants actually, I guess, but never full 88 keys. They were probably awful in all ways: not nice to play, not good sounding, difficult to tune, not quite portable despite the compromises made etc.



Apparently this is what looks like in flames:



(From http://www.containedmusic.fi/)

😁

That could happen when you play and smoke at the same time and you play too strong on the keys.

I expected this to sound like sh1t (honky-tonk) but it's actually a very nice and ethereal harp-like sound because of the single strings. Apparently not the best thing for the hardcore classical repertoire although it can be adapted to work for anything from baroque to early romanticism. It's also very good as an instrument on its own. You should judge it not as a replacement for a nice piano. It can't replace a real piano. But it's a perfectly useable and idiosyncratic instrument for composers and arrangers of (improvised) modern music, as well as a home keyboard that won't bother the neighbors. I'm fascinated by that instrument 👏🏻