Yamaha electric grand of mid 70's to mid 80's origin

[Mark Story]

I used to tune these things quite a bit when they were popular traveling
instruments. The action is essentially a Yamaha acoustic grand action with
unusual hammers.  The treble sounds ok, but the bass strings are so
harmonically out of proportion that it is impossible to tune them so that
they are in tune both chord octaves and walking octaves. The only call-back
I've ever had was on one of these. After that I always asked how the
keybordist played so I could tune it to their preference.
Also, I had a plate welded on one of these that fell over backwards. I broke
in the opposite direction of the stress when strung, so it come out fine. I
haven't even seen one of these for quite a while. I think I still have my
original service manuals for these (including the embarassing mistranslation
on one of the charts), but they are at my private shop.

Mark Story, RPT
Eastern Washington University
mstory@ewu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin, Thomas N (MARTITN5) <MARTITN5@Juniata.Edu>
To: 'pianotech@ptg.org' <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, September 01, 1998 12:21 PM
Subject: Yamaha electric grand of mid 70's to mid 80's origin


>Hi List,
> Does anyone on this list have experience with the Yamaha electric
>Grand (CP70?)?  I played on one on a cruse ship about 8 years ago but,
>didn't pay it much attention - I don't remember it sounding bad though.
>What are your experiences with this instrument?  Apparently it can be put
>into two cases and transported?  How practical is this?  How well do these
>things hold a tuning?  Are they of anywhere near the quality of Yamaha's
>other acoustic instruments?  Are their actions special or standard?  Also
>what are their dimensions.  I have a Clavinova in my apartment now but, I
>would like to have something better (it isn't practical to move a C3 around
>much though - and it's pretty loud in small spaces) I'd like to use this
for
>practicing and perhaps small-time home recording for family and friends.  I
>also read one ad that said they had a soundboard - they don't do they?
>Thanks,
>Tom Martin