Rolf- It depends on whether the hammers Kawai has on hand are newly-manufactured or were a run from whenever the piano was built. The new hammers are much nicer, require less needling, and keep a good voicing longer. The old ones were apparently hot-pressed with some hardener impregnating them. I'd enquire from the parts people when you check price/availability as to when they were made. Don Mannino could give you the best voicing tips for either vintage, but I wouldn't want to work with the older ones myself. On a client's 20-year-old 7' Kawai, I've gotten some benefits from very low-shoulder needling and continual sugar-coating. They're still rocks, but the owner knows how to make the piano musical, and so keeps putting off replacement. Keep kicking those North Woods. They'll get kicked in eventually. Lawrence Lawrence Becker, RPT Piano Technician College-Conservatory of Music University of Cincinnati -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Rolf Von Walthausen Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 7:39 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: [CAUT] Kawai hammers Hello everyone: I have a piano faculty client with a KG-2A who needs a new set of hammers and would like me to use replacement Kawai hammers. I've never worked with these before and so would like to hear your experiences and any advice for getting these hammers to sound their best. Thanks for your help, and Eric good luck with all those Steinways at CCM. Rolf von Walthausen former CCM piano technician retired from institutional work & still kicking in the north woods...
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