Everett studio, rebuilt
Original cabinet, Yamaha P-125a inside
An acoustic Everett studio cabinet, rebuilt to carry a modern Yamaha P-125a keyboard action inside its original case. Old wood, new action, one instrument.
Keyboards & digital
Portable Keyboards & Digital Pianos
From a first keyboard to a Yamaha Clavinova that plays like the real thing, photographed on the floor at 1504 Lamy Lane without the room a full piano needs.
What a digital gets you that an acoustic doesn't
A digital piano solves problems an acoustic piano can't. Headphones let someone practice at eleven at night in an apartment with thin walls without anyone else hearing a note. There's no tuning to schedule and no humidity in a Louisiana summer working its way into the soundboard. And a Clavinova, which is the line we carry from Yamaha, is built to close the gap between that convenience and an actual piano action rather than feel like a toy with piano sounds loaded onto it. A CVP-701 in ebony has been on our floor recently, and it's worth sitting down at even if you think you already know what a keyboard feels like, because a serious digital and a department-store keyboard are not the same category of instrument. Portable keyboards have their place too, for a kid just starting out or someone who wants something light enough to move between rooms, and we carry those alongside the Clavinovas. What's actually in stock changes, so call 318-372-1449 or come try what's on the floor today.
Why the action still matters on a digital
The single biggest difference between a real digital piano and a cheap keyboard is the action under your fingers, the mechanism that decides whether a key feels like a piano key or a toy switch. A weighted, graded hammer action is heavier in the bass and lighter in the treble, the same way a real piano's hammers are, and it's the difference between a student who learns proper touch and one who has to relearn it later on a real piano. We've had a repurposed Everett studio on the floor built around exactly that idea, an acoustic cabinet rebuilt to house a modern Yamaha P-125a keyboard action inside it, which is about as direct a demonstration of why the action matters as you'll find in the building. Sitting down and playing a few bars is still the only real test, digital or not, so treat a keyboard the same way you'd treat a piano and try it before you decide.
Paul Hewitt Music, Family owned and operated in Monroe since 1946. Call (318) 372-1449.
Space and climate
What actually decides digital or acoustic
A Louisiana house, not a showroom
An acoustic piano is wood, felt and a cast iron plate under real string tension, and northeast Louisiana's humidity swings from a wet spring to a dry air-conditioned summer will move that wood over time. A digital doesn't have that problem. It also doesn't need a wall reinforced or a floor that can take the weight, which matters more than people expect in a second-floor room or an apartment.
The late-night practicer
Headphone practice is the other real reason people choose digital, not as a downgrade but as the thing that actually gets a beginner or a working adult to sit down and practice at all, at whatever hour suits them, without a household argument about the noise. If your household doesn't have that constraint, our new and pre-owned pianos are worth a look too.
Recently on the floor
One rebuild, one Clavinova
A sample of what's stood on the floor, not a standing catalogue. Call 318-372-1449 or stop in for what's actually here this week.
Clavinova, ebony
Weighted action
Full-size digital piano with a graded hammer action, built to feel like an acoustic upright under your hands.
The keybed, up close
What your fingers actually feel
This is the action doing the work described above. Come press a few keys before you decide it's just a keyboard.