Piano keys are balanced and weighted in order to perform the demands the piano music requires. Some pianos perform better than others, depending on the engineering and manufacturing prowess of each company. The typical piano employs over 8000 moving parts in order to accomplish this. Digital pianos have to reproduce the feel of an acoustic piano - preferably that of a very good acoustic piano. The challenge is to do this without using the 8000 moving parts that are subject to the elements, which in turn require regular maintenance.

Most digital piano companies attempt to do this using a plastic key with lead weights and a synthetic moving "hammer". This arrangement is lighter than the wooden keys that are in pianos, which can be an advantage only if extreme portability is a concern.

One particular manufacturer employs a wooden key in the action mechanism of some of their digital pianos. It much more closely resembles the motion and mechanism of an acoustic piano. The dealership agreement we have with this particular digital piano manufacturer prohibits their dealers from advertising their products, so we can't disclose more information about it.

The reason wooden keys aren't found on many digital pianos is because it's expensive and heavy -- two attributes that digital pianos inherently seek to avoid. Another reason is because most digital piano manufacturers aren't also acoustic piano manufacturers, so getting wooden piano keys would involve buying the physical keys from another company -- someone who is likely a competitor of theirs, and who's going to do that!? There are however, plenty of digital piano buyers out there who aren't interested in compromising authenticity in the name of saving a few hundred dollars. If you want the feel of a real piano keys, look into the digital pianos that actually USES real piano keys!