{{Short description|Electro-mechanical keyboard musical instrument}} {{Distinguish|electronic piano|digital piano}}[[File:Wurlitzer model 112 electric piano 1956.JPG|thumb|right|200px|A Wurlitzer model 112 electric piano with a guitar amplifier]] An '''electric piano''' is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into electrical signals by pickups (either magnetic, electrostatic, or piezoelectric). The pickups are connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to reinforce the sound sufficiently for the performer and audience to hear. [[File:Phillip Faber på elektrisk klaver.jpg|thumb|Phillip Faber playing an electric piano in Copenhagen, 2025]] ==History== <div style="position:relative;top:0ex;"> {{multiple image |direction=horizontal |align=right |image1=NeoBechstein Flügel.jpg|width1=138|caption1=Neo-Bechstein (1931)<ref> {{cite journal | author = Fritz W. Winckel | author-link = :de:Fritz Winckel | year = 1931 | title = Das Radio-Klavier von Bechstein-Siemens-Nernst | journal = Die Umschau | volume = 35 | issn=0722-8562 | pages=840–843 }}</ref><ref> {{cite journal | author = Hans-W. Schmitz | year = 1990 | title = Der Bechstein-Siemens-Nernst-Flügel | journal = Das mechanische Musikinstrument | series = 16. Jahrgang | issue=49 | publication-date=April 1990 | issn = 0721-6092 | pages=21–27 }}(Technical report)</ref> |image2=Vierlang-Forster electric piano (1937).jpg|width2=183 |caption2=Vierling-Förster piano (1937)<ref name="braun04"> {{cite web |author=Hans-Joachim Braun |year=2004 |url=http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/aboutus/history_center/conferences/che2004/Braun.pdf |title=Music Engineers. The Remarkable Career of Winston E. Knock, Electronic Organ Designer and NASA Chief of Electronics |work=IEEE Conference on the History of Electronics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309223721/http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/aboutus/history_center/conferences/che2004/Braun.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-09 }}</ref><ref name="voigt88"> {{cite journal | author = Wolfgang Voigt | year = 1988 | title = Oskar Vierling, ein Wegbereiter der Elektroakustik für den Musikinstrumentenbau | journal = Das Musikinstrument | volume = 37 | issue = 1/2 | pages = 214–221 }} (2/3): 172–176.</ref> |image3=Storytone electric piano (1939) by Story & Clark and RCA, art deco design by John Vassos, MIM PHX.jpg|width3=136|caption3=Storytone <!-- electric piano --> (1939) by Story & Clark and RCA<ref> {{cite book |chapter = #732: Story & Clark Storytone (1941) artdeco design electric piano |title = <!-- Instruments & Sound Making Equipment - Pianos, -->Collection Checklist |url = http://nmc.ca/pdf/collection-checklist.pdf |page = 50 |publisher = National Music Centre |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140630075114/http://www.nmc.ca/pdf/collection-checklist.pdf |archive-date = 2014-06-30 }}</ref><ref> {{cite book | title = Story & Clark EST.1857: Where Tradition Meets Technology | url = http://qrsmusic.com/downloads/pdf/PianoCatalog_4-pgs.pdf | format = catalog | location = Quaker Drive Seneca, PA | publisher = QRS Music Technologies, Inc. | year = 2008 | page = 2 | quote = The first electric piano, the Storytone, was built in 1939 in a joint venture between Story & Clark and RCA....The company went on to develop the first electric piano in partnership with RCA in 1939 and today they continue the tradition with PNOscan. }}</ref><ref name=storytone> {{cite web |title=RCA Storytone Electric Piano |url=http://antiquitymusic.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=81 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628041704/http://antiquitymusic.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=81 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-06-28 |publisher=Antiquity Music, LLC |quote=''the '''RCA Storytone piano''' was built in ''1939'' in a joint venture between ''Story & Clark'' and ''RCA''. The case was designed by ''John Vassos'', the famous American industrial designer. This piano is one of only 150 made and comes with its original bench. It is the world's first ''electric piano'', and it debuted at the ''1939 World's Fair'', ... The piano has normal strings and action but no soundboard – the sound is amplified through electromagnetic pickups, circuitry and a speaker system, making it the world's first commercial electric piano.'' }}</ref> }}</div>
The Neo-Bechstein electric piano was built in 1931.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|pp=42–43}} The Vierlang-Forster electric piano was introduced in 1937. The RCA Storytone electric piano was built in 1939 in a joint venture between Story & Clark and RCA. The case was designed by John Vassos, the American industrial designer. It debuted at the 1939 World's Fair.<ref name=storytone/>{{clear right}}
==Types== {{multiple image | direction = horizontal | align = right | image1 = Yamaha CP-70M ready to play.jpg | caption1 = Yamaha CP-70M | width1 = 170 | image2 = Yamaha CP-70 opened top.jpg | caption2 = Strings and hammers of Yamaha CP-70 | width2 = 150 }}
The term "electric piano" can refer to several different instruments which vary in their sound-producing mechanisms and consequent timbral characters.
===Struck strings=== {{Main|Electric grand piano}}
Yamaha, Baldwin, Helpinstill and Kawai's electric pianos are actual grand or upright pianos with strings and hammers. The Helpinstill models have a traditional soundboard; the others have none, and are more akin to a solid-body electric guitar.
On Yamaha's pianos, such as the CP-70, the vibration of the strings is converted to an electrical signal by piezoelectric pickups under the bridge.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=334}} Helpinstill's instruments use a set of electromagnetic pickups attached to the instrument's frame. All these instruments have a tonal character similar to that of an acoustic piano.
===Struck reeds=== {{multiple image | direction = horizontal | align = right | image1 = Wurlitzer210.png | width1 = 160 | caption1 = Wurlitzer EP-210 | image2 = Eboardmuseum 5 cropped.jpg | width2 = 160 | caption2 = Struck reeds of a Wurlitzer electric piano (shown here with the hard cover removed) }}
Wurlitzer electronic pianos (sometimes called "Wurli" as a nickname){{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=97}} use flat steel reeds struck by felt hammers. The reeds fit within a comb-like metal plate, and the reeds and plate together form an electrostatic or capacitive pickup system.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=101}} The reeds are tuned by adding or removing mass from a lump of solder at the free end of the reed. Replacement reeds are furnished with a slight excess of solder, and thus tuned "flat"; the user is required – by repeated trial and error – to gradually file off the excess solder until the correct tuning is achieved.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=118}}
In 2015, Brazilian inventor Tiago Valente created the first prototype of the Valente Electric Piano, an electromechanical instrument where the hammers strike reeds, similar to the ones used in a Wurlitzer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Valente |first1=Tiago |title=Bossinha – first prototype of Valente Electric Piano |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OAvwy2GMQk |website=Youtube |date=10 October 2023 |access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref> In 2020, the Valente Electric Piano was launched commercially; at the time of launch, Valente said that he took inspiration from the Suette Piano, another reed electric piano that was made in Brazil in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Product: Valente Electric Piano |url=https://www.worldpianonews.com/new-product/electric-electronic-digital/valente-electric-piano/ |website=World Piano News |date=December 2020 |access-date=6 January 2024}}</ref>
===Struck tuning-forks=== {{multiple image | direction = horizontal | align = right | image1 = Rhodes Mk II 73 cropped.jpg | caption1 = Rhodes Mark II Stage 73 | width1 = 165 | image2 = Fender Rhodes (Inside).jpg | caption2 = Tuning forks of Fender Rhodes Mark I | width2 = 155 }}
The tuning fork here refers to the struck element having two vibrating parts. In Fender Rhodes instruments, the struck portion of the "fork" is a tine of stiff steel wire. The other part of the fork, parallel and adjacent to the tine, is the tonebar, a sturdy steel bar which acts as a resonator and adds sustain to the sound. The tine is fitted with a spring which can be moved along its length to allow the pitch to be varied for fine-tuning.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=213}}
===Plucked reeds=== {{multiple image | direction = horizontal | align = right | image1 = Multimoog & Hohner Pianet.jpg | caption1 = Hohner Pianet (below) | width1 = 195 | image2 = | caption2 = Weltmeister Claviset (Selmer Pianotron) | width2 = 125 }}
The Hohner Pianet uses adhesive pads made from an undressed leather surface cushioned by a foam rubber backing.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=123}} Hohner's later "Pianet T" uses silicone rubber suction pads rather than adhesive pads and replaces the electrostatic system with passive electromagnetic pickups similar to those of the Rhodes.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|p=140}}
===Other electric keyboard instruments=== {{multiple image | direction = vertical | align = right | width = 220 | image1 = Clavinet d6.jpg | caption1 = Hohner Clavinet D6 | image2 = Clavinet-Funktionsprinzip.svg | caption2 = Tangent action of a Clavinet :<br/><span style=font-size:95%;">1. Tuning / 2. Damper / 3. Tangent / 4. Anvil / 5. Key / 6. String / 7. Pickup / 8. Tailpiece</span> }}
Hohner's "Clavinet" is essentially an electric clavichord. A rubber pad under each key presses the string onto a metal anvil, causing the "fretted" portion of the string to vibrate. This is detected by a series of pickups, which convert them into an electrical signal.{{sfn|Lenhoff|Robertson|2019|pp=244, 246–247}}
== Digital pianos == Digital pianos that provide an emulated electric piano sound have largely supplanted the actual electro-mechanical instruments in the 2010s, due to the small size, light weight, and versatility of digital instruments, which can produce a huge range of tones besides piano tones (e.g., emulations of Hammond organ sounds, synthesizer sounds, etc.). However, some performers still perform and record with vintage electric pianos. In 2009, Rhodes produced a new line of electro-mechanical pianos, known as the Rhodes Mark 7, followed by an offering from Vintage Vibe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/vintage-vibe-electric-pianos/150018|title=Vintage Vibe Electric Pianos|author=Jon Regen|date=21 November 2012|publisher=Keyboard Magazine|access-date=27 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103122218/http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/vintage-vibe-electric-pianos/150018|archive-date=3 November 2013}}</ref>
== See also ==
* Clavichord * Hammond organ * Harpsichord
*Celesta *DX7 Rhodes *Electric guitar *Rocksichord
== References == {{Reflist}}
* {{cite book|title=Classic Keys: Keyboard sounds that launched rock music|first1=Alan|last1=Lenhoff|first2=David|last2=Robertson|publisher=University of North Texas Press|year=2019|isbn=978-1-57441-776-0}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Electric pianos}} * [http://www.hallofelectricpianos.co.uk/epianos2.html Simons Hall of Electric Pianos]
{{Musical keyboards|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Electric Piano}} Category:Electric pianos Category:Electric musical instruments