Before and After: The Hohner D6 Clavinet Project

This is the state the 1979 Hohner Clavinet came into the shop.  The finish was totally worn, and the previous owners tried to stain it.  It needed a great deal of TLC.  

The current owner wanted to rebuild it so it would sit on the top of his Fender Rhodes in his living room.  It was imperative that the two should complement each other.  The Fender Rhodes was one I had done a complete restoration i

This is a better image of the poor shape the case was in.  Notice the worn through veneer on the top.  and the raw wood they tried to stain on the end.

The case has been sanded and prepped for the veneering process.  The use of bondo was employed in order to ensure the quality of veneer would not be compromised.  The base material needs to be totally flat.

Finally, the width had to be adjusted to take care of the additional thickness of the veneer.

This is an example of the challenges to veneering a piece that was not flat.  The previous owner sanded the front edge to where it had been beveled.  it took several layers of Bondo to get a flat surface in order for the veneer to lay flat.  In addition, the veneer had to have a slot cut in order to accommodate the mute adjustment lever.

This piece had a metal bezel that was glued to the top of the left cheek block.  So to accommodate the bezel, the veneer had to be cut along the raised edge of the bezel.  This was a challenge that demanded the creation of a cardboard template.  The cardboard template was trimmed exactly on the 4 sides of the bezel.  The pattern was then transferred to a piece of veneer. Then the veneer was cut an

Here is the completed case with trim installed.  It is ready for staining and the final Varnish.

Here is the completed project after staining, 3 coats of varnish, installation of all electronics, and final hand rubbing the finish to a nice satin finish.  The face plate was touched up and then polished to a satin finish.  

This is the view from the left side.  The stain did turn out quite nicely and really helps show the beauty of the White Birch veneer used in the project.

Here is "stacker" I created similar to the DynoMyPiano modification.  It is the back 75% of the Fender Rhodes top that was created from scratch. The Idea was to use this as a flat surface to place another keyboard on.  The use of Tolex that matched the Fender Rhodes and then the wood trim using the same stain as the Clavinet help tie the two together.

The stacker is held into place by the two slip hinges on the back of the case.  It is quite sturdy and can support the clavinet with ease.

Now the two keyboards are placed together in the clients living room just next to the grand piano. The beauty of the Fender Rhodes restoration complements the warn American walnut stain used on the Clavinet.