- HOHNER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP FULL
- HOHNER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP PRO
- HOHNER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP TRIAL
I’m glad I gave the Clav a second chance. You can’t really have a Clav without a proper wah pedal, can you? I was talking to the keys tech for a leading touring artist, and he told me that while the artist’s acoustic piano is tuned before every concert, his Clavinet is tuned before each tour - and never gets touched again unless the Clav is dropped.Ī key for the case and an original tuning tool provided with the Clavinet.
But the strings are under very little tension, and keep their tune for a long time. One interesting Clavinet fact: I was concerned that it might require frequent tuning. (That eliminated a few sticky spots left over from the residue of the old hammers, and got rid of a nasty “thunk” overtone I was hearing upon releasing some keys.) Using some plastic polish on the keys. Using some guitar string cleaner to clean the anvils and the strings near them. Adjusting the alignment of some of the hammers. Shining up the Tolex with a little 303 Marine Protectant (which left no greasy residue like Armor-All). Then, on to some fine-tuning: Touching up a few small marks in the teak wood. But this is about as clean a Clavinet as you’ll ever see today. You can still see some evidence that there were holes there.
HOHNER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP PRO
Since this was the only thing that kept this Clav from looking like new, I decided to entrust a furniture repair pro to work on the cheek block, and make those holes “invisible.” He did very nice job. Next, I needed to deal with the three holes that were drilled in the right cheek block. Finally, moving the instrument away from some fluorescent lights helped, too. I removed it, and the noise level fell further.
HOHNER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP TRIAL
And then, after a lot of trial and error, I realized that the copper foil that was lining the lid was acting like an antenna, even though it was well-grounded. That made a significant reduction in the noise level. I replaced a handful of capacitors and replaced its two transistors with modern, low noise ones. I attacked the usual noisy Clavinet preamp.
I even found a tech who had a little chrome cover for a missing one on one of the handles on the lid. Lubed some balky keys and replaced the rubber key bushings, which gave the keyboard a “like new” feel. I replaced the XLR output with a 1/4″ one. So I went to work: I installed and wired all the replacement electronics. Finally, I found one who was converting a D6 to use an after-market preamp, and was willing to sell off the original pieces to me. I called techs around the nation, looking for the original electronics.
I offered the seller a low price, thinking he would reject it and I would search elsewhere. Still, I was intrigued by the amazing cosmetic condition of the instrument. And where would anyone ever find replacement electronics without buying a second Clavinet and stripping it of its parts? (Why would someone do that, when he could have used the original switches? Argh!) He had essentially destroyed the value of a “mint” instrument to collectors. He lined the entire case with grounded copper foil (good shielding for minimizing electromagnetic interference), replaced the 1/4″ output jack with a balanced XLR jack (not good for originality) and drilled three small holes in the right cheek block to add three switches. No switches, preamp, wiring, volume control, etc. He threw away all the electronics in the Clav except the pickups. So, he went on a quest to make his D6 quiet, and decided to go with a direct out design. He had been unhappy with the usual noisy electronics of the Clav. There was only one problem - and it was a big one:
HOHNER ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP FULL
All its parts were original, a major plus, since many Clavinets today are full of bad replacement market parts that have destroyed the character of the instrument.
He gigged with it for a couple of years in a lounge band (always using a flight case) and then tucked it away for decades. It came with the lid, legs, plastic music stand, the vinyl bag for the legs - and even with about 40 spare strings. The Tolex, keys and woodwork were like new. A couple of weeks later, my opportunity happened.Ī near-mint Clavinet D6 was for sale about 45 miles from my home for a very reasonable price. In spring 2015, I saw one for sale near me, but the seller was asking roughly twice its typical value, and wouldn’t return my calls. But they all seemed grossly over-priced on eBay, which seemed to encourage local sellers to ask ridiculous prices, too. For a while I played with the notion of buying a Clavinet.