Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards are wooden keys noticeable under fingers or nose?

I mean can you tell/smell not knowing that you've got real wood under synthetic ivory topic? Just trying to justify going after more expensive CLP 370 or CA63 to have that feeling. In case of yamaha the wooden keys are only whites anyway.

If my choice will be clavinova I wonder if it's worthy pay extra money for wooden keys in 370 and not just take 340.

Using matches is a sure fire way to know for sure.

While wood is a nice touch aesthetically, it's more of a marketing ploy much like graded hammers on a keyboard that already has an extremely light action.

Wooden keys or not would (wood) not influence me.

If you were to buy a Yamaha Silent Piano made mostly out of wood the nose factor would be significant.
You could enjoy several years of heady cedar box smells exuding from the cabinet and open the top whenever you want to allow a rush of volatile forest sawmill fumes to race through your nostrils.

From what I can tell, this sensual benefit is nonexistent or negligent on the wooden keys only actions of the digital pianos you mentioned.

Yet another advantage of an acoustic piano over digital.

Yet another advantage of an acoustic piano over digital.

First laugh of the day. Thanks!

so I understand you would not pay extra for wooden keys, I wonder though if you'd play acoustic piano with plastic keys

Well, even those white keys are 'solid plastic' with only a thin wooden decoration.

really? OK so that one convinced me completely it's not worth the extra money.
thanks

My CP5 has wood underneath the fake ivory. I only know it's there because I can see it and Yamaha has gone out of its way to advertise it. The keyboard however does not play any better because of it. (I prefer the action of my sold CP300, the CP300 had a heavier action, plastic or not.)

I'm guessing with pure acoustic pianos (developed 300+ years ago) that wood was used because it was plentiful and easy to work with. It's a tradition. I can't imagine anyone paying $100,000 for a piano with plastic keys. (I came close to buying a Datsun 280Z many years ago but was turned off by its plastic dash.)

Would I pay extra for wooden keys? I would play two keyboards - one with and one without. If there was a difference I liked and thought it worth the extra cost, I'd order it.

That's a really funny remark, actually one of the reasons why I wanted solid wooden keys (black & white).

Well, ever since ivory became outlawed all acoustic pianos are built with plastic key coverings as far as I know. Kawai has gone even further and replaced various parts of the action that are wood with forms of plastic.

If I had to choose for a portable instrument one that was precision engineered and manufactured with stable and durable parts to require no maintenance and with maximum reliability versus one that joins unstable, environment sensitive, heavy product such as wood with the majority of plastic parts using screws which are susceptible to becoming loose so that the keyboards already need to be serviced one day after delivery, I think I know what I would choose. Horses for courses as they say.

I think the fact that it is a solid massive key that has some inertia is noticable. Currently all keys that have these properties are made from wood, but I think that another material where fine also.

The other question is, if this really is an advantage or is it only that we prefer it by the force of habit?

for me everything as close as possible to natural in any area is better as a rule. Not knowing from what chemicals are made the plastic keys (who knows what they put inside in China, lead maybe?) can be dangerous to your health in long run don't you think?

I'm going off to sniff my CP1 and motif now to see if I can tell the difference.

I prefer the keyboard action I like most, it doesn't matter if it's wood or not, that's all. And I clearly prefer the solid black and white wooden keys from Kawais RM3 action over all current DP actions.

but stroke it first

My V-Piano's white keys are Ivorite, and the black ones are wooden. That helps me to distinguish between them in the dark....

Why all the fuss over wooden keys?

The key lever on an acoustic has two portions. The part in front of the fulcrum, which you see and touch. And the part behind the fallboard. The "back" portion behind the fulcrum is quite long, representing most of the mass of the wood key.

But on some digitals, all of the key is in front of the fulcrum, which is hidden from view inside the enclosure. There is no "back" portion. (That's the case for Yamaha GH/GH3/NW keyboards ... not sure about other makes.)

So if the keys are constructed so very differently from an acoustic, what difference does it make if the key is wooden or plastic? Either way, it's not the same as an acoustic.

If there's any wish to emulate the feel of an acoustic, it wouldn't require wood. It could be done with clever arrangement of the moving masses, regardless of the material.

Now, wooden keys have the same surface as the better plastics keys. Indeed I am more concerned about the touch surface than the body material.

Peter

I don't think, that the wood makes a difference in the Yamaha keys. But the keys feel different. Maybe the Natural Wood is a newer generation of the GH3 or it is just the normal piano to piano variance. But I felt a difference between the 340 and the 370. If you feel the same and if you like the 340 more or the 370 more, you have to decide.

Be aware that the price difference from the CLP 340 to the 370 is not only because of the keys but also because of the better speaker system of the CLP 370.

The NW (New Wood) action in my CP5 is lighter than the action I had in my CP300 (whatever that was). I prefer the action from the CP300, the CP5's action is a tad too light for my tastes.