Keyboard – Yamaha CP-70 Electric Grand Piano

The quest for a portable piano has been around since the invention of the Fender Rhodes and the Wurlitzer Electronic Piano. However, I’ve owned both and neither had the sound of a real piano.My first “string” piano was a Lesage “Bug” but it wasn’t until I got a Yamaha CP70 ‘Electric Grand Piano’ that I had something approaching a ‘real’ piano that could be toured around, however heavy!

I bought my CP-70 on August 1983 and, once set up, it was a jewel to play. However in their brochures, Yamaha claimed their electric grand pianos were “compact” and “portable.” But that was really hype. Get this, they measured at least 57 inches wide by 45 inches deep (front to back) and weighed as much as 313lbs! However, compared to a Hamnndo organ I guess it was portable.

To make it easier to transport, the CP piano dismantled into separate units with the strings and frame in one case and the keyboard, legs and sustain pedal in another (right) which made it slightly more manageable. It was re-assembled with some clever lock catches. Even so, it was a two man job to cart it around but I learned to get it onto a hotel room cart and then manhandle it into the back of my truck.

But it had to be tuned. So I got a chromatic tuner and learned to do it myself. It may not have been the correct way but I used the guide provided and adjusted the harmonics on the scale in the diagram. For example the mids were bang on but the tuning got gradually sharper on the high end and flatter on the low end.

The pianos were not finished with a rugged covering the way fender amps were. Many a tattered CP-70 was seen along the road. I wrapped mine in blankets so this would not happen. I sold mine a year later to afford a trip to Australia.