Kawai tuning

[Oorebeek A.]

Dear Colleagues,
Another Kawai story...A week ago I told you about one of my =
experiences with a Kawai Concert Grand EX.
As faith would have it, I was recently called by a wellknown Dutch =
jazz pianist.
He told me he was recording music for a cd and he did not like the =
work the tuner had
done that morning, besides, the instrument was >terribly< out of =
tune.."would I have time to come immediately"?
I first tried to talk him into calling the other guy first, but he =
said no, he would rather have me come.
So I went over and there was that same Concert Kawai (5 years old) I =
had worked on once some years ago.
As you can understand, I did not have much time to do anything else =
but make a fresh tuning and do some minimal voicing (it was very =
uneven).
I remembered our posts about Kawai's and told myself to tell you =
exactly what I found.
Here it is:
Many false beats.
Strings not completely tight down on the bridge.
Frame bolts kind of loose.
Regulation and voicing bad.
And most important: I found it difficult to "find my way" with the =
tuning pins.
Usually, I try to get a "tick!" sound when I turn the pin, these pins =
however, were quite difficult.
The "tick!" often did not come, and it took all my experience to set =
the pins.
I think these factors that I just described, could make a Kawai a =
little more difficult, but
especially the setting of the pins.
With Steinways and Yamaha's I do not have the tuning problems.
I would like to hear your meaning about this and =
>please<...understand!..this is not meant
as criticism but as a technical problem I would like to discuss.
I also wanted to say that the studio asked me to come back another =
day to
improve the situation.
I will tap the strings, tighten frame bolts, regulate the action, =
file hammers,
tune a couple of times and make a fine voicing.
Lastly, I must tell you also that the sound of this beast was =
magnificent!


Friendly Greetings from:

CONCERT PIANO SERVICE
Andr=E9 Oorebeek
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
email address: oorebeek@euronet.nl

=89 Where Music is no harm can be =89