The Beatles had at least three Hohner Pianets. In an interview with Keyboard Magazine*, Andy Babiuk, who wrote a book about the instruments the Beatles used, relates how the Beatles first encountered the instrument:
There is an interesting story that Roy Young told me. He was in a band in those early days, and while they were in Germany, he would often sit in with the Beatles and do sets with them and play piano - the grand piano that was on the stage at the Star Club. There are pictures of it in the book.
But in late 1964, Roy Young was playing in London with some other band, opening for the Beatles, and the Beatles were standing in the wings because there's this friend from a couple years ago that they used to jam with in Hamburg.
Roy was playing a brand new Hohner Pianet, one of the first ones in England. As soon as he came off stage they said "Hey, what's that thing you're playing?" He says, "It's this new instrument Hohner gave me, and it's called an electric Pianet. It's an electric piano. It's got a different sound." And Lennon says, "We're gonna get one!" And McCarney says, "Yeah, we've got to get one of those for a new record we're doing." And Lennon adds, "We're going to get two of them... because we can!" I always thought that was a really funny story.
And they ended up really having two of them. There's a picture with Paul playing it in the studio in '65 on the cover of Beat Instrumental Monthly. And then you see Lennon playing it in the film Help. And later you see a different version of the same keyboard on the rooftop in Let It Be, off in the corner: It's set up in case they wanted to play any songs that needed it, there on the opposite side of Billy Preston.As far as I can tell, the first Pianet model the Beatles had was the CH, and they did indeed have two of them. Two of the identifying features of the CH are two switches (one on either side of the keyboard) and spindle-style legs:
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Here's a shot from Help! showing the two switches:
And here's a picture showing the spindle-style legs:
Careful inspection of the wood grain reveals this to be the same instrument seen in these pictures from the studio, dated 19 February 1965 [source]:
That last picture is the one that Babiuk mentions on the cover of Beat Instrumental Monthly:
This is almost certainly the instrument that the Beatles used to record "The Night Before," "You Like Me Too Much," and "Tell Me What You See" - the three songs on Help! that include Pianet. According to Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, these three songs were recorded in the days immediately preceding the day these pictures were taken: "The Night Before" and "You Like Me Too Much" were recorded on 17 February 1965 with John Lennon playing the Pianet, and "Tell Me What You See" was recorded on 18 February with Paul McCartney playing the Pianet.
[Addendum (5 January 2021): I listened to Help! to-day and discovered that "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" also has Pianet. Lewisohn doesn't mention it in his book, but he does note that McCartney plays "electric piano" on "Bad Bay," which was recorded the same day, 10 May 1965. A few internet sources credit McCartney with Pianet on both songs.]
A second Pianet CH (still with a switch on either side of the keyboard and spindle legs but with a different wood grain compared to the Pianet above) is seen in a group of studio pictures dated 3 November 1965 [source]. Evidently, the Beatles didn't use it for any recording during the session, which - according to Lewisohn - was devoted to recording "Michelle."
The next Beatles songs that have Pianet are "Getting Better" and "I Am the Walrus." According to the liner notes of the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the basic backing track for "Getting Better" was recorded on 9 March 1967 with McCartney playing the Pianet. In The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Lewisohn doesn't even mention the instrument. Of "I Am the Walrus," he writes, "Sixteen takes of 'I Am the Walrus', only five of them complete, were recorded on this day [5 September 1967], comprising the basic rhythm track of bass guitar, lead guitar, an electric piano and drums, plus an overdub of a mellotron." This suggests that - with the other Beatles playing their usual instruments - it was Lennon who played Pianet on this track. Because I haven't found any pictures of the Beatles' Pianets from this time, I don't know what specific model was used on these songs.
The next image I can find with the Beatles and the Pianet is from 1968. In "The Making of The Beatles (White Album)" video, a Pianet N (identifiable by the very narrow left check block and scissor-style legs) is briefly visible:
Presumably, this was the Pianet used to record "Revolution" (the single version) and "Savoy Truffle."
In The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Lewisohn notes that the Pianet part in "Revolution" was played by session man Nicky Hopkins on 11 July 1968 as an overdub to the backing track that was recorded the previous day.
As with "Getting Better," Lewisohn doesn't even note the Pianet in "Savoy Truffle." A few sources credit the part to Chris Thomas, who was George Martin's assistant and who produced some of the White Album tracks. Going by Lewisohn's recording dates, it seems that the Pianet part was recorded on either 3 or 14 October 1968.
As Babiuk points out, the Beatles also had a Pianet set up (behind George Harrison) for the Let It Be rooftop concert on 30 January 1969, although they didn't use it:
The legs indicate that this is a Pianet N, but since this picture (which is the best I could find) is taken from such a distance, it's too difficult to compare this instrument and the White Album Pianet to see if they're the same.
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*The Keyboard Magazine website has disappeared, so the link no longer works, but here it is anyway. I copied that quote months ago, which is the only reason I have it now.
A second Pianet CH (still with a switch on either side of the keyboard and spindle legs but with a different wood grain compared to the Pianet above) is seen in a group of studio pictures dated 3 November 1965 [source]. Evidently, the Beatles didn't use it for any recording during the session, which - according to Lewisohn - was devoted to recording "Michelle."
The next Beatles songs that have Pianet are "Getting Better" and "I Am the Walrus." According to the liner notes of the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the basic backing track for "Getting Better" was recorded on 9 March 1967 with McCartney playing the Pianet. In The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Lewisohn doesn't even mention the instrument. Of "I Am the Walrus," he writes, "Sixteen takes of 'I Am the Walrus', only five of them complete, were recorded on this day [5 September 1967], comprising the basic rhythm track of bass guitar, lead guitar, an electric piano and drums, plus an overdub of a mellotron." This suggests that - with the other Beatles playing their usual instruments - it was Lennon who played Pianet on this track. Because I haven't found any pictures of the Beatles' Pianets from this time, I don't know what specific model was used on these songs.
The next image I can find with the Beatles and the Pianet is from 1968. In "The Making of The Beatles (White Album)" video, a Pianet N (identifiable by the very narrow left check block and scissor-style legs) is briefly visible:
 |
| [source] |
Presumably, this was the Pianet used to record "Revolution" (the single version) and "Savoy Truffle."
In The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Lewisohn notes that the Pianet part in "Revolution" was played by session man Nicky Hopkins on 11 July 1968 as an overdub to the backing track that was recorded the previous day.
As with "Getting Better," Lewisohn doesn't even note the Pianet in "Savoy Truffle." A few sources credit the part to Chris Thomas, who was George Martin's assistant and who produced some of the White Album tracks. Going by Lewisohn's recording dates, it seems that the Pianet part was recorded on either 3 or 14 October 1968.
As Babiuk points out, the Beatles also had a Pianet set up (behind George Harrison) for the Let It Be rooftop concert on 30 January 1969, although they didn't use it:
The legs indicate that this is a Pianet N, but since this picture (which is the best I could find) is taken from such a distance, it's too difficult to compare this instrument and the White Album Pianet to see if they're the same.
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I feel it's also worth mentioning that according to some sources, the electric piano heard on "Come Together" is a Hohner Electra-Piano. Lewisohn notes that the part was recorded on 22 July 1969, as an overdub to the basic track that was recorded the day before. Apparently, there are conflicting reports on who played it, but it was either Lennon or McCartney.
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*The Keyboard Magazine website has disappeared, so the link no longer works, but here it is anyway. I copied that quote months ago, which is the only reason I have it now.
