Kawai NS-20

[Farrell]

WOW! We are talking about extreme climatic conditions. I would say that it is amazing any piano can function in that environment.

"......a funny climate full of odd people." I don't know. Sounds like a good group to me!

I do know one thing about bushing felt and white inner weave (I think!). Older methods of making the felt resulted in a white center layer. I forget exactly what has changed with the manufacture of bushing felt, but however it is made today does NOT have need to produce an inner white layer. However, SOME manufacturers of bushing felt DO make a white inner layer - but only in color - the felt is reportedly the same as the non-white-center-felt - they simply put a white stripe in the center to make it look like the old type of felt because many techs only want "the good old stuff".

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony Caught" <caute@bigpond.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 7:55 AM
Subject: Re: Kawai NS-20


Don, Terry & Donald,

Australia is a funny climate full of odd people. In Darwin, where the humidity is currently 85% and in Queensland in general where humidity is also high you will find that 98% of the houses are not air-conditioned and everyone leaves the windows open to let the breezes in ( and the moisture). Seem this is a different world. It is hard on all pianos in all senses but most of them handle these conditions better than does the Kawai.

Now I have to admit that I have not checked out the bushing cloth in the new Kawais and maybe this has been changed recently but in the Kawais that I have worked on, the bushing cloth did not have the white bit in the middle. It was red right through. This makes it different in construction to other bushing cloths that I have used.

 One tuner in Australia rebushed a complete grand action with Renner felt and the problem never reoccurred. So, is it the felt or the ABS resin.

Also one of the English actions, I think Schwander, used ABS flanges with normal bushing cloth and I have never seen a problem with tight centres there so I guess I would have to say its the cloth at fault.

I have not made a proper study of this and it may have changed since but its easy to check it out. take out a flange and look at the felt. Does it have the white inner weave ?


Tony

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Donald Mannino 
  To: Pianotech 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 3:03 PM
  Subject: Re: Kawai NS-20


  At 10:56 PM 3/10/2003 +0930, you wrote:

    ABS flanges or the type of felt used are affected more by humidity than the
    flanges in most other pianos.

    Tony Caught

  Tony,

  I'm not sure where you got this information, but it is completely incorrect.  Perhaps you have been taken in by a non-ABS propaganda artist!  The ABS material is inert and does not change measurably with humidity changes, and the bushing cloth is just a normal tight woven wool bushing cloth - it does not react any differently than any other piano.

  I once had the same misunderstanding regarding ABS flanges.  The reasoning went that the wood hole expands along with the felt during humid times, and thereby gives some compensation for the swelling of the wool cloth.

  In reality, the wood hole expands in an oval shape, and the amount of movement is only barely measurable using very high quality reference points.  Since the hole expansion is not the same in all directions, the effective radius of the hole (from the perspective of the center pin) does not change enough to measurably compensate for the wool expansion.

  Kawai ABS actions have really, truly excellent reputations in the most humid climates, and it is extremely rare to have to repin Kawai actions in humid climates.  If you have had some bad experiences with particular pianos, don't simply blame it on the ABS.  The reason I say this is that in the 80s I can remember having to repin 1 Kawai actions which had frozen up - but it was a UST-6 which had all wood action parts!

  Since I started working for Kawai in 1995, we have had close to zero complaints of tight action centers. Any piano maker can have problems with action centers for one reason or another, and virtually all piano companies have at one time or another.  It is completely incorrect to assume that the ABS would be responsible for tight action centers in a particular piano or climate.

  Don Mannino RPT