Have used these, and are very good. I finished up putting each pickup through its own DI unit which gave me more control over each section AND you could pan to get a great stereo image. Have also included two PZM mics in strategic placements to pickup the sound board more and have had AWESOME results. Tons of level, no feedback, great clear warm sound.
Genius invention, a bit beyond my budget so I home built two pickups wound on long magnets made for holding kitchen knives! Fitted to a Yamaha upright, the bass end is filled in wonderfully and there’s extra lustre in the mids. Nothing unnatural about the sound, simply more luxurious, almost-grand. Speaker (eight inch hi-fi, two cubic feet) is on its back to reflect the orientation of a concert piano soundboard. It needed care to eliminate hum, which of course wouldn’t be a problem with the refined Helpinstill product. Haven’t heard one yet, at least not knowingly, but on the basis of my crude emulation I am sure the real thing is wonderful.
The sound of this instrument when the amp is turned on is akin to the Iconic Yamaha CP-80 Electric Baby Grand Piano but more refined as it's Bigger & the Bass Strings are longer.
This is the queen piano sound it was also used in the studio . Watch every live video of Queen and you will see the little mixer right on top of the piano on the left side of the Piano. Watch Bohemian Rhapsody on Live Aid you will see Freddie change the mix of the pickups on the little Mixer.
@@freddyfazbearsgamingymas6722 "It's a hard life" is one of them, the earlier solo piano stuff was miced like Bohemian Rhapsody. In the Bohemian Rhapsody multi tracks you can clearly hear that it's mic's in a small room recording the piano. Perhaps they started to use the Piano Pickups later in the albums in the Studio as that sound matched more of the live concerts.
@@danfuerthgillis4483 on Bohemian Rhapsody there's photos of Freddie with the white C. Bechstein V model in the studio with the helpinstill pickups installed and the control box plugged in. However the tone of the piano that we hear in the end is the normal one produced by the piano as if it didn't have any pickups installed. It would have a more wet-like sound. As for "It's a hard life" wich was recorded in a Yamaha.. i would say it's also the normal and acustic tone of the piano. At first i thought that the reason for the helpinstill piano pickup system being installed on the piano at the studio by Queen not only was for recording purposes for new songs but also to take the chance to add any overdubs in any mistake that Freddie could've had in a concert while playing
@@freddyfazbearsgamingymas6722 Yep, they had been using the Piano pickups very early in the concerts it was Elton John who started using them. They give a very distinct sound ( e piano like). perhaps since they always used them live they also had them installed in the studio pianos to practice for live usages after. Maybe this is why Freddie barely missed any notes when live, notice he also never used in ear monitors, just speaker monitors very close to him to hear the piano pickup sound over the real sound of the piano.
@@danfuerthgillis4483 since i have lots of info about the pianos Queen used in the studio and what brands they where.. so far i've gotten to play on two steinway pianos in wich i played live versions of songs and Don't stop me now and bicycle race in their respective studio versions. I've also played recently in a Yamaha with Play The Game and It's a Hard Life. I still want to find an old Bechstein to play Bohrap, Killer Queen, etc. However i do want to find a piano with helpinstill pickups installed to get that distintive Queen live sound. At first i thought the live helpinstill sound of Freddie's Steinway D model in gigs was because the piano had another much higher level of tunning.. but it would've been impossible. I mostly like to watch the Behind the scenes footage of the Wembley magic tour gigs in the clip where Freddie's piano is brought, lid opened up and how they're tunning it. Helpinstill makes wonders! And i had no idea that Elton was the one who started to use the pickups
Very interesting system. Looking forward to listen to some sound samples. By the way, is it possible to conect the pick ups separately on a mixer by 3 direct boxes? thanks
Isn’t this similar to how the Yamaha CP70/80 worked? I wonder if you could take this and run it through vintage chorus effects and such to get something similar to the CP series
Have used these, and are very good. I finished up putting each pickup through its own DI unit which gave me more control over each section AND you could pan to get a great stereo image. Have also included two PZM mics in strategic placements to pickup the sound board more and have had AWESOME results. Tons of level, no feedback, great clear warm sound.
Queen have been using this system over their legendary live performance!
Very good system. I sell pianos for a living and have recommended these for years.
I wish you showed how it sounds, not only how you install it....
th-cam.com/video/A22oy8dFjqc/w-d-xo.html
@@miljantoto That video is blocked
Genius invention, a bit beyond my budget so I home built two pickups wound on long magnets made for holding kitchen knives!
Fitted to a Yamaha upright, the bass end is filled in wonderfully and there’s extra lustre in the mids. Nothing unnatural about the sound, simply more luxurious, almost-grand. Speaker (eight inch hi-fi, two cubic feet) is on its back to reflect the orientation of a concert piano soundboard. It needed care to eliminate hum, which of course wouldn’t be a problem with the refined Helpinstill product. Haven’t heard one yet, at least not knowingly, but on the basis of my crude emulation I am sure the real thing is wonderful.
wind it like a humbucker to get rid of noise
How did you wind those magnets? Did you wind them like a rope around a stick, or did you wind them longitudinally?
awesome device, cant wait to get one.
The sound of this instrument when the amp is turned on is akin to the Iconic Yamaha CP-80 Electric Baby Grand Piano but more refined as it's Bigger & the Bass Strings are longer.
Or a RCA Storytone ;)
This is the queen piano sound it was also used in the studio . Watch every live video of Queen and you will see the little mixer right on top of the piano on the left side of the Piano. Watch Bohemian Rhapsody on Live Aid you will see Freddie change the mix of the pickups on the little Mixer.
In wich Queen studio songs the live helpinstill pickup sound can be heard?
@@freddyfazbearsgamingymas6722 "It's a hard life" is one of them, the earlier solo piano stuff was miced like Bohemian Rhapsody. In the Bohemian Rhapsody multi tracks you can clearly hear that it's mic's in a small room recording the piano. Perhaps they started to use the Piano Pickups later in the albums in the Studio as that sound matched more of the live concerts.
@@danfuerthgillis4483 on Bohemian Rhapsody there's photos of Freddie with the white C. Bechstein V model in the studio with the helpinstill pickups installed and the control box plugged in. However the tone of the piano that we hear in the end is the normal one produced by the piano as if it didn't have any pickups installed. It would have a more wet-like sound. As for "It's a hard life" wich was recorded in a Yamaha.. i would say it's also the normal and acustic tone of the piano. At first i thought that the reason for the helpinstill piano pickup system being installed on the piano at the studio by Queen not only was for recording purposes for new songs but also to take the chance to add any overdubs in any mistake that Freddie could've had in a concert while playing
@@freddyfazbearsgamingymas6722 Yep, they had been using the Piano pickups very early in the concerts it was Elton John who started using them. They give a very distinct sound ( e piano like). perhaps since they always used them live they also had them installed in the studio pianos to practice for live usages after. Maybe this is why Freddie barely missed any notes when live, notice he also never used in ear monitors, just speaker monitors very close to him to hear the piano pickup sound over the real sound of the piano.
@@danfuerthgillis4483 since i have lots of info about the pianos Queen used in the studio and what brands they where.. so far i've gotten to play on two steinway pianos in wich i played live versions of songs and Don't stop me now and bicycle race in their respective studio versions. I've also played recently in a Yamaha with Play The Game and It's a Hard Life. I still want to find an old Bechstein to play Bohrap, Killer Queen, etc. However i do want to find a piano with helpinstill pickups installed to get that distintive Queen live sound.
At first i thought the live helpinstill sound of Freddie's Steinway D model in gigs was because the piano had another much higher level of tunning.. but it would've been impossible. I mostly like to watch the Behind the scenes footage of the Wembley magic tour gigs in the clip where Freddie's piano is brought, lid opened up and how they're tunning it. Helpinstill makes wonders! And i had no idea that Elton was the one who started to use the pickups
How do these pickups work? Are they long magnets? How are they wound? I'm very curious!
Very interesting system. Looking forward to listen to some sound samples. By the way, is it possible to conect the pick ups separately on a mixer by 3 direct boxes?
thanks
Isn’t this similar to how the Yamaha CP70/80 worked? I wonder if you could take this and run it through vintage chorus effects and such to get something similar to the CP series
Thanks for Detuning the piano haha