The Hohner Clavinet

Figuring that this blog is named Clavinet, I felt I ought to give a bit of background and info about it.  The clavinet (often shortened to clav) is based on the clavichord, an instrument that began to show up around the late 14th and early 15th centuries.  The clavichord is often described as an unfretted keyboard instrument, as there is a separate string for each key.  The keys are on one end of an arm; at the other end is a small brass pyramid called a tangent.  The tangent strikes the string giving a very sharp attack to the sound.

I should point out that the following describes a Hohner Clavinet D6 model - other models should be similar, although they are outside my personal experience.  

The clavinet is similar as it also has a string per key.  The clavinet's keys have a hard rubber hammer underneath (which serves as it's tangent).  Past it's similarities with the clavichord, it really starts resembling an electric guitar with active electronics.  There are two pickups - the originals are single coils, replacement humbuckers are available from www.clavinet.com among others- and there are two pickup switches (controlling on/off for both pickups as well as in-phase & out-of-phase settings when both pickups are engaged) and 4 switches which control level and (to a certain extent) EQ.  There is also a string mute attached to a slider which allows varying levels of string damping.

The clavinet's electronics can be powered by a 9 Volt DC supply or via battery.

Stevie Wonder is probably the best known clavinet player, thanks to his ultra-groovy mega-hit "Superstition" among others.  I was lucky enough to see him on tour a month or so ago, and there were two (count 'em) clavinets on stage!  Stevie often ran his through what I believe was a Boss Auto-Wah pedal.

The clavinet is best known as a funk instrument but was ubiquitous throughout pop and rock hits of the 1970s and early 1980s.  

Electromechanical keyboards vs synths

There's something about electromechanical keyboards.  By these I mean such legendary favorites as the Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, the Hammond organs, and of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Hohner Clavinet.  When they are in good condition, they are a joy to play.  They seem to have a life of their own.  

I have a love for these keyboards, mainly because they seem to maintain a sense of space in a mix.  By comparison, when mixing synth or sampled emulations of the same instruments, I always have to work much harder to make the synths sit into a mix.  Generally short (sub-50 ms) delays are needed to create some sense of ambience.  Not so with the Rhodes or Wurly.

The Rhodes, taken direct has more "space around it" and "depth" than an arguably good (I'd say very good, in fact) sampled Rhodes.  I've tried this with multiple DIs and preamps with built-in DIs, always with the same subjective results.

Why?  I have some theories but I'd love to hear others.  Any ideas?  I'll post some of mine in a future update.