Digital Piano with Wooden Keys: What Differences Are There?

When you hear that a digital piano has wooden keys, you likely expect a realistic playing feel. But while many manufacturers advertise this as a quality feature, not all ‘wooden’ keyboards actually have real wooden keys. So, what should you look out for, and what makes a home piano a hybrid digital piano?

When talking about wooden keys, one could almost get the impression that digital pianos without this feature are of inferior quality. Of course, this is complete nonsense, as many instruments with conventional keyboards also provide an authentic playing feel. High-end digital pianos have good keyboards. Period.

However, there is undoubtedly a difference in quality between wooden-key acoustic and digital pianos. If you don’t want to compromise on playing feel, choose a digital piano or stage piano with wooden keys – but take a close look: Some manufacturers use the term quite loosely.

All about Wooden Keys

If you expect the term “wooden keys” to mean a keyboard like that of an upright or grand piano, you’d be right. If you look at the action of an acoustic piano, you see a keyboard cut from wood. Therefore, the following points should also apply to a digital piano with wooden keys:

Solid wood keys: All 88 keys are cut from solid wood. Casio and Kawai offer this feature on mid-range digital pianos. Other brands use such keyboards only in more expensive hybrid digital pianos.

Key length: The keyboard construction is basically that of a grand piano. Here, keys move over a balance rail and are balanced by counterweights. The front part of the key up to the balance rail pin determines the angle of the keystroke.

A digital piano with wooden keys and grand piano-like action is called a hybrid digital piano – the upper class of digital pianos. Yamaha uses the term “AvantGrand” to differentiate its hybrid models from conventional digital pianos. The entry-level model, the Yamaha AvantGrand NU1X with custom-made upright action, is available for around 4,300 Euros. The AvantGrand NU3X, on the other hand, is in a class of its own: Designed as a smart digital grand piano, it is priced at approximately 18,000 Euros.

With a price tag of around 9,000 Euros, the Kawai Novus NV10 is also one of the more expensive digital pianos. If you want to enter the wood class at a lower price, you should take a look at Casio’s “Grand Hybrid” series, developed in cooperation with the German piano manufacturer C. Bechstein.

A tip is the Kawai CA series – here you can enter the hybrid digital piano class for just under 2,000 Euros. Casio’s smallest Grand Hybrid, the GP-310, starts at just under 3,000 Euros.

Digital Piano with Wooden Keys: Variations

Since wooden keys are a quality feature of high-quality hybrid digital pianos, it’s no wonder that digital piano manufacturers like to make this claim. Even if these instruments may only fulfill the above-named characteristics partially – or not at all. Instruments whose keyboards are made of a mix of different components and materials are also referred to as digital pianos with wooden keys. While this is not always a negative, this information must be transparent for the customer.

Roland PHA-50 – Progressive Hammer Action

Roland does this in an exemplary manner and describes the PHA-50 keyboard with the term “Wood & Plastic Hybrid Structure”. The PHA-50 is without a doubt a high-quality keyboard offering a great playing feel. However, wood is only used on the visible sides of the keys. This not only makes a great visual impression but also ensures a pleasant playing feel. Thanks to its weighting, let-off simulation, and Ivory Feel surface, the PHA-50 offers excellent playing characteristics and is used in more expensive models such as the Roland FP-90X and Roland LX-11.

Plastic Keys with a Wooden Core

Another type of keyboard follows a ‘sandwich construction’ principle. Here, the plastic part of the key surrounds a solid wooden core. This only applies to the white keys; the black keys are made entirely of plastic. Another major difference from a real solid wood keyboard is the hammer action. As is the case with conventional digital piano keyboards, the hammer action is located in the keybed.

Fatar TP-40 “Wood”: The Italian keyboard manufacturer Fatar offers the TP-40 W based on this principle. You can find it for example in the Studiologic instruments or the rather expensive MIDI keyboard by the Austrian keyboard manufacturer Lachnit.
Yamaha Natural Wood X: Yamaha also uses a wooden core for its Natural Wood X (NWX) and GrandTouch keyboards. Encased in plastic, the front (playable) part of the white keys contains solid wood, while the black keys are made entirely of plastic and covered with a synthetic ebony material. This keyboard also features a hammer action keybed.

For comparison, the action of hybrid digital pianos and the Kawai CA series is located at the back end of the keys. Noteworthy is the Yamaha AvantGrand NU1X which resembles an upright piano not only in design but also in terms of action. The playing feel of the NU1X is therefore closer to that of Yamaha’s console models.

Weighting and Let-Off Simulation

Whether a solid wood keyboard or wooden core sandwich technology, a let-off simulation is a quality feature of higher-priced pianos. Today, even the cheapest entry-level digital pianos come with weighted keys replicating those of an acoustic piano. However, higher-priced models have a more advanced version of this feature.

When playing the two top Clavinova models, there is a clear difference between the CLP-775 and the CLP-785. Both feature Yamaha’s GrandTouch keyboard, but only the CLP-785 has additional counterweights for even finer control of sound nuances.

The History of Wooden-Key Digital Pianos

Wooden keys on digital instruments are a hotly debated topic among pianists and keyboardists alike. In fact, this feature has been around for a long time, starting with the analog synthesizers of the 80s, e.g. the “ARP successor” Rhodes Chroma or the Sequential Circuits Prophet T8.

When you talk about digital piano sound, you must mention the Kurzweil K250. With digital sampling technology and realistic studio-quality sounds, it was the start of a revolution. But even this flagship doesn’t come close to the quality of wooden keys found in today’s digital pianos.

Kawai’s Digital Pianos with Wooden Keys

Kawai has put digital pianos with wooden keys out on the market since the late 1990s, starting with the CA950 of the CA series. Hence it’s no wonder that you can choose from several different wooden keyboards of varying quality today. The Novus NV10 hybrid digital piano is the latest development. Its Millennium III Hybrid mechanism even takes into account the different key weights in relation to the sustain pedal. The CA79 and CA99 models feature the Grand Feel III Action, while the CA49 and CA59 models come with the Grand Feel Compact Action keyboard. For the VPC-1 Master Keyboard Controller, Kawai used the RM3 Grand II hammer action keyboard.

Wooden Key Digital Piano – Product Recommendations

The keyboards on this list meet all the requirements of a wooden key instrument 100%. All keys are made of solid wood.

→ See all digital pianos with wooden keys at Thomann*.

Casio Celviano Grand Hybrid GP-310

The smaller GP-310 is significantly less expensive than the top model. It lacks the high-quality glossy finish, but hardly any of the other features.

Casio Celviano Grand Hybrid GP-510

The top model in the current Grand Hybrid line, available in glossy black or white, comes in a design inspired by conventional digital pianos.

Kawai CA-901

The CA99’s unique soundboard system sets it apart from other home pianos. Unrivaled in its price range in terms of feel and sound.

Kawai CA-701

The smaller model in the current CA Series is almost identical in sound and feel to the top model. However, it does not feature the acoustic soundboard.

Kawai CA-501

Kawai’s midrange model from the Concert Artist series impresses with good playability and sound characteristics. Compared to the CA-401 it benefits from the larger sound system and the 360° diffusor speakers.

Kawai CA-401

Like the predecessor model, the Kawai CA401 opens the door to the hybrid digital piano class for 2,000 Euros.

Kawai Novus NV-10S

This Kawai hybrid digital piano features a high-quality grand piano action. Unique in this class is the special pedal mechanism, which influences the weighting of the keys. The Kawai NV10 is a real highlight in terms of sound, design, and playing feel.

Kawai Novus NV-5S

While the “smaller” model of the NV Series is in upright piano design, the hammer action resembles that of a grand piano – just as on the NV10S.

→ Product page Kawai Novus NV-5S

Yamaha N-1X AvantGrand

The entry into Yamaha’s upper class for approximately 7,500 Euros: Modern elegance meets the classic features of acoustic grand pianos. The custom-made AvantGrand keyboard plays very well.

Yamaha N-3X AvantGrand

Yamaha’s top-of-the-line hybrid digital piano in grand piano design is a high-end product in every respect. A price tag of around 20,000 Euros also reflects this.

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