[CAUT] Kawai hammers

[Jim Busby]

A bit more...

It's been nearly a year now and they are still very good. I've use Renner Blues a lot and they are nearly identical as far as voicing goes.

Jim Busby



-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jim Busby
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 2:40 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Kawai hammers

Don, All,

Oh yes, I can comment!

We bought 7 sets prehung, ready to go. They we're incredibly nice sounding w/o much work. (A bit of light shoulder needling and evening out, is all) The thing that blew me away was the price. I'm not sure if we got a "special deal" because we bought 7 sets, but hammers, shanks and flanges cost less than I usually spend on a set of raw hammers alone!

Also a big plus for me is that only 2 or 3 per set needed to be traveled. I'm certainly a believer in their composite parts. Seriously, with two people working I replaced the hammers on a G3 and had it back in the room in 3 1/2 hours. 

I've tried pre-hungs from Yamaha and Steinway, but nothing compares to Kawai. I sound like an infomercial, but after 7 sets I can give a huge thumbs-up.

Jim Busby RPT BYU

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Don Mannino
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 9:25 AM
To: pianowork at yahoo.com; caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Kawai hammers

Rolf,

The current RX hammers which are available are not hard to work with.
They are made somewhat similar to Renner hammers, and voice with similar
techniques.

They start hard and bright, and need plenty of low and upper shoulder
needling.

For universities we can special order the set of hammers pre-mounted
from the factory, so if you contact Me at Kawai with the serial number I
will order the set for you.  A set takes a couple months to arrive from
Japan, and it makes the hammer job much easier to complete quickly.

Jim Busby installed a few of these sets earlier this year - hopefully he
can comment on the voicing process and how they are sounding after some
use.

Don Mannino
dmannino at kawaius.com

-----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 4:39 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...