Clavinets and Piano keys

[Don Tillman]

   Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 15:23:03 -0400 (EDT)
   From: Silence <Elias.Holman at oberlin.edu>

   This is a slightly different question than most of what I've seen
   on this list, but I am interested in building a clavinet.  

Cool.  The one obvious improvement would be the keyboard.  The plastic
keys on the clav are mighty cheap.

   I understand the general principles, but I need to know things like,
   can I use guitar strings? 

Yes.

   what kind of pick-ups are used? 

Two pickups.  One "bridge" and one "neck".

Each pickup is a compound unit of six smaller pickups in a row, each
of those has a single bar magnet and a single coil of wire and spans
enough distance to handle 10 strings.

The pickups are very low impedance.  No humbucking wiring.

The selection switches choose neck, bridge, neck+bridge, and
neck-bridge (out of phase).  

There is also a four band binary EQ -- on-off switches for each band,
all on is no EQ, all off is no sound.  It's made with a series of LC
sections to ground.  You could do lots better.

Actually there are lots of ways to improve the electronics on the
clav.  Stereo for instance.

   How long are the strings or how much tension is applied to each?  

'Don't know.  The lowest string is basically the width of the
Clavinet.  The tension is very, very low.

   I also am not quite sure how the keys work.  

Almost exactly like a clavichord.

  -- Don