[CAUT] Shigeru Kawai in-home service

[Don Mannino]

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Hi all,
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It's only natural that people will find angles to poke fun at (or argue
against) competitive manufacturer's business practices.  I thought I
would spell out what the Shigeru Kawai service program actually is.
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The Kawai concert technicians (which we call MPAs) are the people who
actually do all of the final assembly, regulation, tuning and voicing of
the Shigeru Kawai pianos in Japan.  Since Kawai was starting a whole new
piano line with these models, we felt that the condition of the piano
when it got to the home was critical to building a reputation, and for
that reason we have sent the technicians around checking the pianos in
dealer showrooms.  As most of you know, convicing dealers to hire the
best technicians in town to prep pianos in their stores is not an easy
task, so this way we see each piano at least occasionally and can make
sure they are presentable.
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The purchaser also is given a one day service appointment by one of
these MPAs in the home, and this has a number of functions:
-  First, we strongly encourage the buyers to have their own technician
come visit during that service day, so that the tuner can pick up the
specific regulation and voicing tips that work well with these pianos.
This is a chance for a sort of "on the job training" session that can
really help you all keep the SK pianos in good shape over the  years.
- Second, we get very valuable feedback to the factory from these
visits, as the Japanese technicians get a chance to see how the pianos
are performing in the real world in much more variable climates than
they would otherwise ever see.
- Finally, the customer also gets a chance to have the piano voiced to
suit their home and useage type, and has the security of knowing that
the piano has been well set up properly from the start, so their
responsibility then becomes only to maintain the piano. =20
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Kawai does offer a one week training seminar for technicians in
California specifically geared towards Shigeru Kawai service.  Some on
this list have already attended, and others are already on my waiting
list for this seminar.  If you want to get on the list feel free to
write to me directly (not through CAUT).   The seminar is intended to
equip the better technicians in the US to do the same type of service
and know the specific techniques as the Kawai MPAs.  We have already
made use of some of these SK Academy "graduates' for servicing the store
pianos, although the one in-home service will always be performed by one
of the MPAs who builds the pianos.
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The MPAs are not available for routine service, so there is no effort
underway to "outsource" service work.  The whole concept is kind of
silly, actually, when you consider the costs involved.  All any
technician needs to do to perform the same kind of work is equip
themselves with the knowledge and skills, and then offer it to their
customers!  So many US technicians prefer to just do quick tunings - I
have found a strong resistance by technicians to doing full service
appointments for quality pianos.  1/2 day and full day appointments for
customers with high quality grand pianos should be a routine thing, yet
they are rarely done.  If the local technicians offer it to their
customers, and the whole mystique for using outside "experts"
dissapears, and the local technician becomes the special one.
=20
Don Mannino RPT, Director
Shigeru Kawai Field Services
 <http://www.shigerukawai.com/> www.shigerukawai.com
 <mailto:tech@shigerukawai.com> tech@shigerukawai.com=20

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