20 Facts About Clavinet

Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982.

Clavinet is an electromechanical instrument that is usually used in conjunction with a keyboard amplifier.

The Clavinet has pickup selector switches, and a solid state preamplifier that allows a line level output to be fed to an amplifier.

Clavinet grew up listening to Bach harpsichord music, which led him to design a comparable modern instrument.

Clavinet joined Hohner in 1954, at a time when it was struggling with manufacturing after the company factories had been seized by the Nazis during World War II.

Related searches

Clavinet was particularly interested in producing an electric clavichord, and discovered that striking a hammer tip across a string mounted on an anvil allowed the player to hit the keys more forcefully and gain greater volume.

Clavinet was interested in using metal keypads and plastic keys as an alternative to wooden frames and action that had been used on electric pianos such as the Wurlitzer.

The only controls on the Clavinet I are volume and two tablet switches that selected a relevant combination of pickups.

Clavinet II had the same basic features as the Clavinet I, which replaced the built-in amplifier and speaker system with a preamplifier.

Clavinet D6, introduced in 1971, continued the case style of the C but is covered in black vinyl leathercloth and the upper surface of the instrument is teak veneer, which was cheaper to manufacture.

Clavinet is often played through a wah wah pedal or fed through an auto wah box.

Clavinet is strongly associated with Stevie Wonder, particularly his 1972 number-one hit "Superstition", where it provides the main riff and accompaniment to the song.

Clavinet has continued to record and tour with the Clavinet into the 21st century, and has several models.

Clavinet's main stage instrument is a customised D6 with modified preamps and high-quality film capacitors.

Clavinet was used in funk music, often played through a wah-wah pedal.

Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Could You Be Loved" is driven by a Clavinet riff played by Earl Lindo, as is Wonder's Marley-influenced track "Master Blaster ", played by Wonder himself.

George Duke regularly used a Clavinet when playing with Frank Zappa and solo, using the Castle Bar modification.

Late seventies hit singles to feature a Clavinet include Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne" and Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Loving Fun".

Clavinet bought his first Clavinet second-hand aged 17 for $150; the modification had already been made at the time he bought this.

The signal from the Clavinet is fed into a Dunlop Cry Baby wah-wah pedal, then into a Fender Deville amplifier.