{{unreferenced, date=February 2020 Helpinstill is a US-based company that produces a unique

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...

pickup system for amplifying grand and upright

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s on stage. During the late 1970s the company also marketed a range of portable pianos ready-fitted with the pickups. These instruments were built by Kimball to Helpinstill's specifications. The company's founder and namesake, Charles Helpinstill, performs in Houston with his band, Ezra Charles and The Texas Blues Band.

Description

The Helpinstill pickup comprises three (or four in the case of some uprights) long electromagnetic bar pickups which can be temporarily attached to a piano's iron frame with

magnets A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

and clamps. The pickups only sense vibrations from the strings, virtually eliminating the possibility of

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

. A small mixer allows the pianist or sound engineer to adjust the output balance of the pickups.

The ''Melodipro'' piano

In the mid-1970s, the Aeolian piano company marketed the Melodipro upright piano, a semi-roadworthy version of its Melodigrand 64-note piano fitted with a Helpinstill pickup system. The shortcomings of this instrument inspired Helpinstill to produce its own completely portable instruments.

Helpinstill pianos

Three models were produced between 1977 and about 1980. All were true acoustic pianos with soundboards.

Roadmaster 88 and 64 models

These were uprights, built into

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

flightcases on

casters A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved. Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, to ...

with fold-away keyboards and sustain pedals. The 88 offered a full piano range while the 64 lacked the top and bottom octaves.

Portable Grand

This was an 88-note baby grand without its heavy outer case, and designed to separate into a keyboard and a "harp" section with removable "hairpin"-style legs. A

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

cover was fitted to the "harp" in lieu of a traditional case and lid. This made the instrument considerably lighter than a traditional grand of the same size. Both instruments are still renowned for their authentic sound when amplified, and the Helpinstill pickup remains an industry standard.

External links

Helpinstill company websiteMusic website of Ezra Charles Helpinstill
Piano manufacturing companies of the United States Companies based in Texas