Here’s the latest from our custom shop: A whammy modified Hohner Clavinet D6, with some twists. We had a custom plexiglass top made, as well as an oak case with custom matching turned legs. To “tie the room together”, we searched long and hard for some quality turquoise felt for both function and aesthetic accent. The result is both stately and stanky!
The Clavinet whammy concept was originally devised by Buddy Castle (known then as “Castlebars”) and have since been made accessible in kit form by Ken Rich. This is the kit we use, however we have made a few modifications on this design, most notably in the guide block. Notice a black guide block underneath the “stop arm” of the whammy bar, close to where a Clavinet would typically have it’s output jack. Both that guide block, and the additional felt underneath the whammy route keep the arm from having excess back and forth motion. This makes the whammy movement feel much more solid compared to a typical installation. Watch a video of notable whammy player Lachy Doley and you’ll see how much these whammy arms can rock the Clavinets top. That’s not an option on our screwed in plexiglass tops, so we go through great lengths to make sure that the whammy arm has room to flex on either end of it’s route, extending the cutout by ~5mm on either end.
Aesthetically there are a few things that make this Clavinet special. You’ll notice that you don’t see an output jack right away. That’s because we put it on the bottom of the instrument, near the pre-amp. Our client loved the wooden case so much, he didn’t want to interrupt the grain with a 1/4″ jack, so we decided to take a cue from the Wurlitzer book and put the jack on the bottom of the instrument. There’s still plenty of room to plug it in while it’s perched on top of a Rhodes. The turquoise felt was a wonderful idea, and one we’ve also got to credit to our client. He loved our first oak Clavinet, but wanted something to make his just a little more unique, and he found it! The material we ended up with is of a nice dense quality and ensures the whammy arm remains snug inside of it’s lid route.
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Oak Teal Hohner Clavinet D6 Whammy-10
Custom turned legs make this clavinet custom from the bottom up.
Aside from the whammy modification, this Clavinet received our top-shelf restoration services. Complete disassembly allows for deep cleaning, exercising, lubricating, and optimizing all moving parts of a Clavinet. From the tuners to the keyframes, there is a lot of tedious prep work in these instruments. If done well, the result is a consistent action that has very little friction. Our electronics overhaul is similarly comprehensive, and we’ve spent quite a bit of time researching the best components to use to optimize these original amplifiers. Once done, they sound better and quieter than new, and are devoid of the interference issues that plague so many Clavinets. We can’t wait for the next one!
How does it sound? Hear for yourself in this video featuring a take on Nels Cline’s guitar solo on the Wilco tune “Impossible Germany”.
