free isomorphic 6-6 acoustic piano

[Douglas Keislar]

Free to a good home:
Isomorphic (“6-6”) full-size upright acoustic piano.  It was originally a player piano manufactured by Gulbransen; the player mechanism had already been removed when I bought it. I changed the keyboard, from a standard “7-5” layout with 7 white keys per octave in the lower row and 5 black keys in the upper row, to an isomorphic “6-6” layout with 6 keys per octave in each row, retaining the usual coloring of each pitch. Each row forms a whole-tone scale. See the attached photo.

This 6-6 arrangement corresponds to a number of alternative music notations. (See http://musicnotation.org/tutorials/6-6-and-7-5-pitch-patterns/). It is particularly easy to sight-read such notations on a 6-6 keyboard.

On my piano, C is in the upper row in order to simplify learning for those who already know the traditional keyboard. That’s because this layout maximizes the number of pitches that are in the same position as on the standard keyboard. Seven notes, F through B, are the bottom row, in the same position as in the traditional keyboard, and five notes, C through E, are in a new position. (Some other designs have kept C in the bottom row, influenced by the C-major bias of the traditional keyboard, but that approach moves seven of the twelve notes to a new position.)

For more on the advantages of a 6-6 keyboard layout:
http://www.balanced-keyboard.com/Why.aspx
https://www.le-nouveau-clavier.fr/english/

I have owned the piano for decades and am ready to give it to anyone interested. (You’re also welcome to the piano stool seen in the photo, but it needs some welding in order to be height-adjustable.) The piano is located on the ground floor of my home in Berkeley, California, USA. You would be responsible for arranging to have it moved. Contact me by email if interested.

Doug

[John Keller]

OMG Doug, why are you getting rid of your own hand made piano?

I hope you are well.

Regards,

John

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<1-Keislar-6-6-piano.jpg>

[Douglas Keislar]

Hi John,

We need to free up the room it's occupying in the house, because a family member has moved into that room, which is cramped. I haven't played that piano for a number of years and would like to see it go to someone who will. I already have a grand piano (7-5) as well as three electronic keyboard instruments (two of which are isomorphic).

Doug

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[Waller Dominique]

Hi Doug,

Which are those two other isomorphic instruments that you have?

Just curious. Dominique

envoyé : 5 juillet 2022 à 20:55
de : Douglas Keislar <douglas...@gmail.com>
à : musicn...@googlegroups.com
objet : Re: [MNP] free isomorphic 6-6 acoustic piano

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[John Keller]

Hey Doug, i was wondering this too. 

Also what is your opinion about the various keyboards (and notations) after your very many years of experience with them. 

And how is Fantasie Impromptu going (I presume on the 7/5 grand)? Which notation is used?

Cheers,

John

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[Douglas Keislar]

Hi Dominique and John,

The two isomorphic instruments I alluded to are a Chromatone (which has a Janko-like 6-6 layout) and a Lumatone (which has a Terpstra layout, designed to accommodate microtonality). Although I've played both of them, I have to confess I've been too busy to give either the attention they deserve yet. My vision is to focus on the Lumatone in the future. I met Siemen Terpstra years ago, when all he had to show me was a 3-D cardboard mockup of his design. It's so nice to see it finally come to fruition in a commercially available instrument.

(I had mentioned to John outside this group that I was learning Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu. That is indeed on the 7-5 grand, using traditional notation. I've pretty much memorized it but don't expect I'll ever get up to full speed, especially with the very sporadic practice I manage to fit into my schedule.)

Doug

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[Waller Dominique]

Thanks, Doug. Hope you’ll find a buyer for your 6/6 Gulbransen piano.

Let me just show where I’m at myself. Here attached is a photo of my modified UMX 610 Behringer keyboard controller. The only thing left to do is to learn how to download sounds on that beast… I’ll take care of that next year when I’ll be retired (yes, I’m 65 now).

My Chromatone was out of order for several years already. It’s a rather fragile device.

Cheers, Dominique

envoyé : 7 juillet 2022 à 08:34

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[Guy Mathews]

Hi Dominique,

I'm in the process of building a 6-6 isomorphic keyboard based on an M-Audio Keystation 61 :  very similar to Behringer's knockoff.

How did you make the keys for this?  I am resin casting mine using a silicone rubber mold I made of a D-key.  The mold is a little delicate but I think it will work.   Now I just need to cast 25 more D-keys and a few black keys to go with them.  I use a slightly different 3-color coloring scheme that matches the tablature notation I have developed.  The original keyboard was built based on a design of Hilbert Howe's.

Sincerely,

++Guy Mathews

[Waller Dominique]

Hi Guy,

I didn’t make the keys myself, just bought them from Joseph Summers (USA). I would be unable to build them myself anyway. But when you’ve finished your M-Audio Keystation, I’d be happy to post a picture on my website https://www.le-nouveau-clavier.fr and publish our conversation on my blog if you agree.

If you succeed, would you like to sell those keys to others or even sell rebuilt keyboards?

Besides, I already knew the photo of your piano from a previous post of yours in 2020. Nice find!

Cheers, Dominique

envoyé : 14 juillet 2022 à 19:54
de : Guy Mathews <guy.w....@gmail.com>
à : The Music Notation Project | Forum <musicn...@googlegroups.com>

objet : Re: [MNP] free isomorphic 6-6 acoustic piano

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