Pianet

The Pianet is a type of electro-mechanical piano built by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. The designer of the early Pianet models was Ernst Zacharias, basing the mechanism closely on a 1920s design by Lloyd Loar. The Pianet was a variant of the earlier reed-based Hohner electric piano the Cembalet which, like the Pianet, was intended for home use. Hohner offered both keyboards in their range until the early 1970s. The Pianet production consisted of two distinctly different mechanism groups with characteristically different sound. The first group, lasting from introduction to 1977, had ground stainless steel reeds, a pick-up using variable capacitance, and leather faced activation pads. The second group from 1977 until the end of production used rolled spring-steel reeds, electro-magnetic pick-ups, and moulded silicone rubber activation pads.

General description

The Pianet is an electro-mechanical piano requiring amplification to produce a usable sound level. Pianets in the first group of models have 61 keys and a keyboard range of F1 to F6 (43.6 Hz – 1396.9 Hz). The second group have 60 keys and finish at E6 (1318.5 Hz). 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 pad can be mounted over a tuned spring steel reed. This pad adheres to the reed when at rest, and 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 Pianet comes from the activation pads adhering to the steel reeds until they reach their point of release.