kawai tuning stability

[Ron Nossaman]

Hello Andre', at 09:36 PM 1/24/97 +0000, you wrote:

>I have tuned many Kawai Grands and in my experience they have a lot of
false >beats. In other words, they are more difficult to tune than for
instance a >Steinway or a Yamaha.
>Every time when I am called for tuning a Kawai, I brace myself, because I
know >that when I get past key number =B1 55 (or there abouts) trouble will
start and >tuning becomes a walk through the
>desert.

>therefor manipulating the tuning pins takes more time causing strings to go
out >faster than normal, causing then complaints.
>If a technician regulates the instrument, makes a >stable< tuning, and
makes a >beautiful< voicing,=20
>the problem will probably have been solved.
>
>Friendly Greetings from:
>
>CONCERT PIANO SERVICE
>Andr=E9 Oorebeek
>Amsterdam, the Netherlands
>email address: oorebeek@euronet.nl
>

Tuning both Kawais and Yamahas I find that, in the high tenor and treble, a
good HARD blow is necessary to get the strings to render through the bridge.
Not hitting them hard enough during tuning accounts for a lot of the aparent
instability problems. Kawai grands do often have a lot of wild strings in
the treble, but it ain't voicing bunky! Try this next time you tune one.
First, find yourself a nice juicy wild string or two for the test. Mute off
the rest of the unison to isolate the offending string. Now, while playing
the note, press a screwdriver against the side of the "speaking length"
bridge pin opposite the string and observe how the noise clears up! Most of
the treble wild string problems in most pianos are the result of loose
bridge pins. (my experience) There are other things, of course, like front
duplex screams, etc. In Kawai's case, it certainly isn't sloppy work (the
notching is good and the pins were probably tight originally) but perhaps
the bridges are made of a softer material than some other instruments, or
they just don't take kindly to the humidity swings in the average
institutional environment. ??? They seem to start out pretty clean, and get
noisier with a couple of seasons of humidity swings. Muting the rear duplex,
as Don suggested, helps a lot (on S&S too). When rebuilding a piano of any
type I always epoxy, or CA, bridge pins. Even when I re-notch and install
new pins. It makes them tune much cleaner and seals and stabilizes the wood
to hopefully keep the pins tight. Wouldn't it be nice if all manufacturers
would do this when the pianos are built? Unfortunately, I don't have a fix
for the problem other than lowering tension, disconnecting the string from
the bridge, and applying CA or epoxy. Tapping strings to seat them on the
bridge quiets the wild string temporarily but is detremental to the bridge
in the long run. Comments anyone?


 Ron Nossaman