S. Kawai

[Ward & Probst]

Hi Don & List,

Kawai and Don were kind enough to supply two of the Shirgeru SKIIIs for us
to use in the Technical Institute last July in Arlington as well as an EX
and many other fine pianos. The SK's were incredible instruments- you could
have heard them in any of several tuning classes(including Mannino san's)and
you would remember the round legs.
Just wanted to publicly thank Kawai and Don for their support.

Maybe we could see them again in Reno???

Thanks Don,

Dale
Dale Probst, RPT
Member, TEAM2001
PTG Annual Convention
Reno, NV --July 11-15, 2001
email: wardprobst@cst.net
(940)691-3682 voice
(940) 691-6843 fax
TEAM2001 website: http://www.ptg.org/conv.htm


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf Of
Donald Mannino
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 11:14 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: S. Kawai


Hi Dave!

As Kevin so aptly described them, the Shigeru Kawai pianos are Kawai's new
hand-made line of grands.  They are the same scale designs as the larger RX
pianos, but are built differently and with some different materials.  Since
they are hand built they are very limited in quantity, so there are
presently less than 20 dealers in North America.

They come in 5 sizes, SK-II (5'10"), SK-III (6'1"), SK-V (6'6"), SK-VI (7')
and SK-VII (7'6").

The soundboards are made from long-term aged Japanese spruce (air-dried a
minimum of 5 years before final seasoning), and have cold-pressed hammers
and hand-wound bass strings (wrap is fed by hand instead of numerically
controlled string machine).  The cabinets are somewhat different, with round
legs and some fancier features - but it is the sound and touch that really
makes them nice.

The actions and dampers in the Shigeru Kawai pianos are installed and
regulated by Kawai's concert technicians in Japan, so they come from the
factory quite well regulated and voiced.

As you might expect, they cost quite a bit more than the standard RX pianos.
Although Kawai has had other limited production models in the past (like the
original GS models and the R - 'Artisan Select' models), these are built
similarly to the EX concert grand.  The added labor really adds to the
price.

Don Mannino
Kawai Piano Company

At 09:05 AM 1/24/01 -0600, you wrote:

Ok Don, tell us, what is the S...... (can't remember how it's spelled) Kawai
that is advertised in the January Journal (pg 33)?

dave



David M. Porritt
dporritt@swbell.net
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275