Yamaha CLP-350

The CLP-350 was one of the earliest models of Clavinova, released back in 1988. It was certainly among the first to feature AWM (Advanced Wave Memory) which made a big difference in the tonal quality compared to the few earlier Clavinovas. The CLP-350 along with its bigger brother the CLP-550 does not have all the bells and whistles found on later models, such as built-in effects, sequencer, disk drive, etc. - but I swear the sound quality and the keyboard action beats the hell out of some of the subsequent models released in the early 90's. There are 4 other presets including Vibes and Harpsichord (which are good), but I value this thing JUST for the Grand Piano sound alone, and it's among the very best you will ever find in a digitally-sampled instrument, on par with the highest-end Kurzweils. Why Yamaha never included piano sound this good in many of their sample-based synthesizers is a mystery to me.

The keyboard action is excellent: fully weighted hammer action that you just can't get on a portable stage piano (there's real balancing weights for every key, they take up room, and it's what makes the unit so heavy). The keyboard was built specifically to compliment the velocity sensitivity of the sample-playback engine, so that you would never get the same quality piano sound if you MIDI'd it up to a different keyboard controller. You get much more sensitivity and thus better timbre variations by using its own keyboard. It is 16-note polyphonic, which might not seem like much by today's standards, but seems sufficient for normal piano playing (not Conlon Nancarrow experimentation). I play quite complex block chords with the sustain pedal held down, and have never heard an unnatural note cut-off. It is bi-timbral, but you can only access this feature thru an external sequencer or controller. You can still do a keyboard split using its own keyboard, but the left hand will only play an external module at MIDI channel 2 (with local off).

The build quality is good, very sturdy. In fact the hardshell plastic casing is much better for wear & tear than the veneer-covered particleboard that graces most of the later models. Like most Clavinovas, this one was meant for the home, not for gigging. But you can get around that little problem by removing it from the stand (just the removal of 2 screws does it), but then the next problem is that the damper/sustenato pedals are built into the stand! I got around this problem by building a small wooden box to house the pedal unit (again, easy to remove from the stand). Now my Clavinova is free from the large, unwieldly, unfoldable stand it came with, and I use a heavy-duty metal collapsible one. Now my home-based Clavinova is giggable, and I have indeed used it for many a gig. The final step in this modification was the removal of the built-in speakers which were useless to me, and an annoyance. This brought the weight down just a tiny bit, but remember that even without the stand this things weighs around 85 lbs. But it's worth it for me to have on gigs; nothing else I have can get that very realistic piano sound, and especially with that first class weighted keyboard.

It has never given me a problem, even with all the risky modifications I did, and considering it's been on the road quite a bit. Very, very reliable.

Never needed it.

I was very lucky to received the CLP-350 as a gift from a very good friend, who owned it for a couple of years but it was just sitting there and not being played. She wanted me to have it because she felt I was a gifted keyboard player and would put it to good use, which I most certainly did! Despite all of the other synthesizers I have bought and owned over the years, this remains my most treasured and valuable prize posession. I don't think I would have ever been able to afford one, especially during the time that it was given to me (around 1994 or so). I imagine it originally went for like $2,500 or higher. I have seen this or similar models go for around $550-$700 on eBay.