Portable Acoustic Piano

personalnadir

As someone who lives up several flights of stairs, an acoustic piano that can be carried by one person is very attractive. Throw in midi and a (by my estimate) £3500 price point it becomes very tempting. Would love to try it and hear what it sounds like in a room.

https://keybird-instruments.com/shop

Unfortunately digital piano, so far, just haven't inspired me in the same way. Without being able to try it though, it's a lot of money to risk on what could sound and feel poor

thomasw88

60kg..   Whilst manageable its not going to be pleasant to lug that around. . Plus it looks highly breakable.

personalnadir

thomasw88 said:

60kg..   Whilst manageable its not going to be pleasant to lug that around. . Plus it looks highly breakable.

Yes, wouldn’t want to do it by myself, but should be fine for two. I think it also separates into two parts. Agree, it does look flimsy in the footage, I do worry about the overall lifespan of the piano. Will be watching with curiosity though

 

Cranky

Geez that seems incredibly risky, and with so much downside.  How good can an acoustic that small sound?  And how often will it need to be tuned from moving it around?

I’m not a piano player, but I was so taken by the action on the $750 Roland fp-30x that I got it despite already having a decent vintage upright in the house.  I can only assume that for £3500 the action and sound quality of a digital could be amazing.

Winny_Pooh

That looks awesome. Would be interested to hear it in person.

AntonHunter

So... two very good piano player friends of mine have ordered a Keybird each... the problem is, this was about three years ago, and they keep pushing delivery dates back. Apparently it proved more popular than they imagined, so they had to scale up production first, and then one did ship to the UK but it was damaged, so they needed to sort shipping out, and there's a long waiting list, or something...

I've asked my mates how they're getting on, and will update when i hear anything!

One of them had a ship's piano for a while that he would take to gigs. I forget was size it was, but it was still heavy, and a two-man job to lift it.

personalnadir

That’s worrying, particularly given the site is advertising the a Nov 23 delivery date. Hope your friends get theirs soon! 

thecolourbox

I'm a wedding pianist so when I saw this I thought...oooh. However, whilst the audio and video clips sound nice, they don't really sound like a proper piano, they sound like those altered piano VST instruments to get that specific short sustain sound that sounds like the quiet pedal is slightly pressed down. A bit like those rubber guitar bridges I suppose.

In a dream world where I had a beach chalet and plenty of spare cash then I can see a use for it, but for that money you'd get a nice digital piano and still have budget left over for a Dutch Grand shell or something if you want the look of a real piano.

I don't think I'd like to lift 60kg of expensive piano too often.

AntonHunter

personalnadir said:

That’s worrying, particularly given the site is advertising the a Nov 23 delivery date. Hope your friends get theirs soon! 

Turns out it's ready to ship! Once they've found a suitable courier...

AntonHunter

Both my mates who've ordered one now have them!

I went round to help one of them decide on how best to amplify it and it's great! Really nice looking, sounds cool, feels like a piano. It's not super light, but movable with a trolley. And it's half the weight of the ship's piano he had.

personalnadir

Thanks for the update! That’s great to hear. Might need to start saving and making some space! 

axisus

It's a rather nice looking thing.

If I was a millionaire I'd have one in one of the many rooms in my mansion.

AntonHunter

personalnadir said:

Thanks for the update! That’s great to hear. Might need to start saving and making some space! 

If you're serious about it, PM me and I'll put you in touch with one or both of my mates who bought one. They seem to love talking to anyone anywhere about it!

personalnadir

AntonHunter said:

personalnadir said:

Thanks for the update! That’s great to hear. Might need to start saving and making some space! 

If you're serious about it, PM me and I'll put you in touch with one or both of my mates who bought one. They seem to love talking to anyone anywhere about it!

Thanks, definitely considering one, but it'll be in a few years time. May follow up to see how well they've aged