Cembalet

The Cembalet is a type of electro-mechanical piano built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany from the late-1950s to the early 1970s. The designer of the Cembalet was Ernst Zacharias. The Cembalet was a reed-based electric piano intended for home use. It was the first keyboard produced by Hohner as a piano-like instrument rather than an instrument having the sustained note of an organ. It was adopted by popular musicians for recording and performance in the early 1960s due to its portability and ability to be amplified by electronic means.

General description

The Cembalet is an electro-mechanical piano requiring amplification to produce a usable sound level. Cembalets have 61 keys and a keyboard range of C2 to C7 (65.4 Hz – 2093 Hz). The Cembalet had ground stainless steel reeds and a pick-up using variable capacitance. The keyboard action is very simple. Each key is a single lever element pivoted on a fulcrum point with a spring to return it to the rest position. The key is extended at the rear so that a plectrum and damper pad can be mounted at the end of a tuned spring steel reed. This plectrum lifts and releases the reed causing it to vibrate when the key is depressed. The vibration of the reed is converted to an electrical signal by a pick-up. The unique playing feel of a Cembalet comes from the resistance of the steel reeds until they reach their point of release.