Kawai KK Upright problem

[John Ross]

Hi Andrew,

Experience, that is the key to our work.

When I tune a piano, I always do a few major chords, with the pedal
depressed. That particular problem, would have shown up right away.

Doesn't everyone, try the piano after they tune, checking that the pedals
work correctly, and adjust them accordingly?  I always took that as being
part of the tuning.

Regards,
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew & Rebeca Anderson" <anrebe@zianet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 6:32 PM
Subject: Kawai KK Upright problem


> I've been volunteer tuning a Kawai KK Upright.  (My only volunteer
> venue.)  I didn't much like it but after a pitch-raise, some voicing up
> around the tenor break, another tuning several months later; it was
> starting to come around.  What I didn't like was how short the sustain was
> around the midrange of the piano.  It was somewhat better than a tuned
> brick.  I was pondering what voicing methods would bring out sustain.  I
> didn't think lacquer was what was needed.  It adds attack and that was
> already OK.
> Later my wife played it to accompany some vocalists and I listened.  I
> consoled myself that it was nicely in tune and that my stretch that had
> seemed a little too aggressive while sitting at the piano sounded great
out
> in the hall.  But it still seemed muffled, especially in the low
> treble.  It would soar and sound great as soon as it was played in the
high
> treble.  She came back and told me, "There's something wrong with the
> damping."  Couldn't be that, the dampers moved when the pedal was pushed
> and there was sustain, just not enough.  The bass was a little better but
> not as free as it should be.  Free!  It had one of those practice mute
felt
> screens that lowered when the middle pedal was activated.  I had worked on
> that a bit to make sure it wasn't interfering but the spring had seemed a
> little weak.  During an intermission while several others were practicing
> with her I determined to do something about it.  I folded back the lid
> figuring I could take loop out of the spring and get that nasty felt
> curtain out of the way.
> I went up and opened the lid while she was playing.  She gave me that,
> "There's  something wrong with the piano, do something about it." look.
>
> Being an upright it never occurred to me to stand up and try to look
> between the dampers and the strings while standing an the damper
> pedal.  ;-)  I watched the felt curtain and the hammers weren't catching
> it.  Something caught my attention and I looked and noticed that even
while
> the damper pedal was activated, the played keys would push the dampers
back
> almost twice as far.  More, there was one that was firmly ensconced on its
> strings even when the damper pedal was down.  They didn't release from the
> strings evenly, some touched more than others.  None of them completely
> cleared the strings.  huh?...BINGO!
>
> My wife is rather patient with me...I pulled out the knee panel while she
> was playing and then started turning that wing nut on the trapwork.  The
> sound opened right up,  It could still use some more voicing but it is a
> different piano now.  Moral of the story, when things don't sound right it
> doesn't hurt to waste a little time looking at the dampers.  Next time I
> have time to volunteer I'll do a little damper regulating too.
> I've kicked myself a few  times over that one since last night.  What
> amuses me is that they had this piano for years now and no-one else caught
> it.  The other regular pianists had been complaining about it too, they
> told me afterwards.  I had volunteered on the piano because I hated the
way
> it sounded.
>
> Another piano a some more experience,
> Andrew
> Las Cruces, NM
>
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