Kawai=the new Lester?

[Conrad Hoffsommer]

Tom,

At 07:43 3/9/2005, you wrote:
>List
>
>Just tuned a Kawai vertical, a CX-5H.  I have always thought of Kawai as 
>one of the better brands of piano.  But the design elements of this piano 
>make me wonder if they continue to aspire to quality.
>
>First of all, this piano had a soundboard with the grain orientation 
>vertical!  I had always read that the best orientation for soundboard 
>grain on a vertical was diagonal.  Cheap pianos had the grain horizontal 
>because it took less wood (lengthwise) to do it  this way.  I've never 
>seen vertical grain orientation before, but I'm guessing it's for the same 
>reason, and it ain't because it sounds better this way.  The tone of this 
>piano?  Well, the top two octaves were pretty weak.  Not much sustain, not 
>much brightness.
>
>There were also no wooden frame support beams in the back.  Completely 
>open.  Again, from what I understand beams bracing the frame are there to 
>help tuning stability by stiffening the structure of the piano.  Perhaps, 
>just a coincidence, but this piano, which was one of three that I tuned in 
>the same building, was the only one that needed a pitch raise.  Following 
>a tuning 6 months ago (by another tuner), this piano was 35 cents flat in 
>the center, and nearly 100 cents flat in octave 7.  The bass strings were 
>generally 15 to 25 cents flat.  The other two pianos were within 4 cents 
>of A440.
>
>I also noticed that the action had only two brackets attaching it to the 
>plate, one on each end.  There was a hole in the plate at the tenor break 
>where a third bracket could have been attached, but there was nothing on 
>the action there.  Perhaps this plate is shared by another model in the 
>Kawai line that does have a third bracket there.  Or maybe they  elminated 
>the bracket after designing the plate with the hole already there.
>
>So maybe I'm misinformed about some of the above elements of pianos in 
>general.  If so, I'm sure someone will enlighten me.  And that's what this 
>list is all about.  But from my humble viewpoint, the Kawai CX-5H has 
>quite a few corners cut, resulting in a piano that makes me contemplate 
>Kawais in general.
>
>Tom Sivak
>Chicago PTG Associate


¡¡ My fault, entirely !!

Just yesterday I was talking up Kawai to some friends. Sure hope I don't 
have to retract my words... S&S/Boston want to ring in on this one??






Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT, MPT, CCT, PFP, ACS, CRS.
Decorah, IA

- Certified Calibration Technician for Bio-powered Digitally Activated
   Lever Action Tone Generation Systems.
- Pianotech Flamesuit Purveyor
- American Curmudgeon Society - Apprentice Member and Founder