Hohner Cembalet (1960s)
An electronic clavichord that shipped with its own amplifier and a warning not to let the lid fall open backwards.
Overview
The Cembalet is the polite sibling in Hohner's electro-mechanical line, according to owners. The Clavinet D6 bites. The Cembalet sits back and lets a rhythm record carry the room. The manual for the Cembalet N lays out the whole idea in one paragraph. The player runs it through a dedicated amplifier - either the CP, which hangs underneath the instrument on brackets, or an Orgaphon 25 MH. The amp can be set for record playing, so the keyboard accompanies a disc or the disc accompanies the keyboard. It is a parlor instrument with a rhythm section built into the setup instructions.
The playing surface is conventional where it counts. The instrument has 61 normal-size piano keys across a 5-octave range, C to c″″. That is standard piano geometry, not a scaled-down toy layout, so anyone who plays piano can sit down at a Cembalet without relearning their hands. The design is in wood, and the legs screw off for transport. The lid doubles as a music stand when opened. Owners report using it constantly, because it turns the instrument from a piece of furniture into a working desk.
Volume comes from a foot swell rather than a panel fader, and the manual describes its range as running from pianissimo to forte. That is a wide range for a foot pedal. A tone regulator on the amplifier handles the overall balance, and a vibrato switch on the right-hand side of the instrument gives what the manual calls additional enrichment. The vibrato is not subtle. It is a switch, and it is either on or off.
Key Features
61 Keys, C to c″″
Five octaves of full-size piano keys is the spec that separates the Cembalet from the toy end of the Hohner catalog. The manual states it plainly: 61 normal-size piano keys with a 5-octave range. Nothing about the keybed is miniaturized or compromised, so the instrument reads as a serious keyboard. The range covers the standard piano literature up to the top of the treble staff and a bit beyond, the same span most players expect from a small stage piano.
Foot Swell Volume Control
The volume pedal is not an accessory. It is the primary dynamic control, and the manual treats it that way. Degrees of volume are controlled by the foot swell, which covers a wide range from pianissimo to forte. The Cembalet has no velocity sensitivity to speak of, so the player's expression comes from the foot, not the fingers. Owners who come from piano report that this takes a session or two to get used to.
Vibrato Switch
A vibrato switch on the right-hand side of the instrument provides what the manual calls additional enrichment. It is on or off, and it is the only onboard tonal control the player gets without reaching for the amplifier. The manual's troubleshooting section says that if the vibrato cuts out, the culprit is often not a failed component in the blinking circuit but the bulb itself. The bulb is an 18 V, 100 mA type, and a spare ships in a plastic bag with the instrument. Hohner expected the owner to handle maintenance, with a spare in the bag and no service call.
Wooden Case with Screw-Off Legs
The instrument is attractively designed in wood, and the legs screw off for easy transportability. The lid serves as a music stand when opened. The manual warns against letting it fall open backwards during unpacking, which suggests the hinge is not built to take a full swing. For transport, the manual recommends locking the lid, then leaving it unlocked for the move. That is counterintuitive, but it is in the documentation. It implies the lock is meant to keep the lid from flopping during handling rather than to secure the instrument in transit.
Amplifier CP and the Orgaphon Connection
The Cembalet N was not sold as a standalone keyboard. The manual recommends a specially constructed amplifier CP, which can be suspended underneath the Cembalet N, or alternatively a Hohner Orgaphon amplifier. The Orgaphon 25 MH is named specifically as a suitable match. Two brackets ship with the CP and are fixed with milled screws to the underside of the instrument, so the amp rides along with the keyboard as a single unit. The output sockets are on the back frame, suitably marked, and the diode plug for the foot swell goes into a socket provided for it. Setup is not complicated, but it is specific. The manual walks through turning the instrument upside down to attach the legs, inserting the brass rod, and then placing the amp on its guides beneath the Cembalet.
Historical Context
The Cembalet dates to the 1960s, and it sits in Hohner's line of electro-mechanical keyboards alongside the Clavinet D6, the Pianet, the Pianet T, and the Guitaret. The manual for the Cembalet N is the primary document that survives. It assumes the owner will do their own setup, their own amplifier matching, and their own bulb swaps.
The instrument's name points at the clavichord and harpsichord family. The manual's own framing calls it an electronic musical instrument with certain mechanical features, not a synthesizer in the modern sense. The mechanical features are the keybed and the action. The electronic features are the tone generation and the vibrato. The Cembalet is a hybrid, marketed as a home and parlor instrument rather than a stage tool. That is why the amplifier CP exists at all: the Cembalet was meant to live in a room, with its own amp tucked underneath, ready for a rhythm record to be cued up alongside it.
Collectibility & Value
The Cembalet is the least-documented and least-traded of Hohner's electro-mechanical keyboards, and the available sources do not give reliable current market prices. The documentation does show the maintenance items an owner should expect. The vibrato bulb is the first thing to check when the effect drops out - 18 V, 100 mA, and a spare was included with the instrument when new. The foot swell connects via a diode plug into a dedicated socket, and that connection is a common point of failure on any pedal-equipped keyboard of this age. The legs screw off, which means the mounting points are a wear item, and the lid hinge should not be allowed to fall open backwards.
The Cembalet N was designed to pair with the amplifier CP or an Orgaphon 25 MH, so a complete example with the matching amp is more useful to a player than a bare keyboard. The brackets and milled screws that attach the CP to the underside are small hardware that goes missing over decades, and their presence or absence affects how usable a given example is. The source material is thin on pricing, and collectors should treat any figure they see as unverified.
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