The Yamaha CP-60M… We’ve got one… shouldn’t you?

The Yamaha CP-60 isn’t as popular as the Fender Rhodes or the infamous Wurlitzer 200…    Could 20+ years really be the issue?

The Yamaha CP-60M came out around 1984, roughly 20+ years after the famed Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer’s 200 model which most know simply by, “Wurly.”  Yamaha had done pretty well with an earlier, larger model, the CP-70 which was geared toward large touring bands that wanted a real mic’d stage piano worthy of the rough life on the road.  The CP-70 was essentially an electric baby grand.  Similar to the 70’s Helpinstill, it had a full sound board and double voiced strings, a real piano at that point.  Under each string was an independent piezo-electric pickup that was used to amplify the sound. This custom design eliminated any possibility of ‘howl around’ even at high volume and for most, this was more than adequate.

With a full range of pickups and onboard eq that gave far more range than the Fender Rhodes, it seemed like the perfect touring piano. 

Yamaha spent ten years perfecting their little oyster and made the CP-60M.  Unlike the CP-70, the CP-60M was smaller, more compact, and easier to load due to it’s slim stance and folded keyboard.  It was also dressed in a protective armor-like shell.  But wait…   what’s the “M” stand for?  Midi!   Holy sh$t!

The CP-60M is the ultimate stage piano.  An electrified REAL double voiced upright piano with full electric eq with midi and vibrato.  The midi really makes this instrument shine.  With any midi brain you can turn this organic instrument into anything you can dream up.  Synths, organs, voices, triggers, etc…. all at the touch of a hammer-weighted piano. 

The interesting thing about the CP series is that you rarely see them up for sale.  This is our third in ten years.  I’ve seen a CP-70 twice in my travels.  Do people just never let these babies go?  It has been used in the past by  Peter Gabriel and also Abba, U2, Simple Minds, George Duke, Bruce Hornsby, Genesis/Tony Banks and countless others. More recently, the UK band Keane have adopted the Yamaha CP as their primary piano sound.

Due to the push for a more average, consumer-friendly, mass-produced keyboard, Yamaha pushed production on much lower priced, lighter digital pianos towards the end of the 1980’s.   The CP-60M was only made for a short period in the mid eightees making it a hard instrument to track down.

This particular one has been modified to accept a modern AC-adapter unit.  Why?  The CP’s had a very specific power adapter with a pronged cable similar to the Vox’s.  Once lost, a trip to Japan may get you a new one.   We’ve taken the liberty to convert it for you so while on tour and your bandmate leaves the utility box behind, a trip to Radio Shack will calm your nerves.

-Matt Welsh

$1300 only at MAIN DRAG MUSIC