Voicing up Shigeru Kawai SK3

[Avery Todd]

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Hi St=E9phane,

There's not much I can tell you about this (I could, but I won't!) :-)

My university bought a 7' Shigeru about 1-1/2 yrs. ago and it still
hasn't been "serviced" like it was supposed to have been. A Kawai
tech was recently in town to service some "sales" and I even sent an
e-mail requesting (again!) that ours be serviced as promised when one
buys a Shigeru. No one even responded to my e-mail!  Well, that was
the end of January and so far, no one even has contacted me to have that
done! So, I'm sure "that" tech has long since gone back home! It was
supposed to have been done the next time one of their techs was in town,
according to the dealer!

As you might be able to guess, I'm not very happy and at this point, I
wouldn't recommend anyone buy a Shigeru based on those "promises"!

Sorry. It really surprises me and most of all, disappoints me!

Avery

At 03:31 PM 2/19/04, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I own a brand new Shigeru Kawai SK3 that the Kawai technician in France has
>made, according to me,  too deep voicing on notes in the treeble range=20
>(octave 5 to 6).
>
>Although he disagrees with that, the tone is slightly too mellow in this=20
>range,
>from pianissimo up to mezzo forte. At pianissimo or piano, the higher=20
>partials are
>reduced compared to neighboring octaves (impacted notes are from 55 to 69),
>and the attack looks a bit dull.
>Those higher partials are coming back with more strength on the key.=
 However,
>these notes always require slightly more strength to produce a balanced=
 sound.
> From Mezzo forte up to Forte, things are OK (overall loudness and tone=20
> quality
>is well balanced)
>
>The technician made several filing with very limited improvement. I'm not a
>specialist, just a pianist - but my engineering background and what I=
 learned
>reading your very interesting posts, tell me that there has been likely=20
>too much
>deep needling in the higher section of the shoulders.
>
>The Shigeru hammers are cold-pressed and are considered as medim/soft in
>europe. May be they are not  very robust to extensive voicing.
>
>I'm wondering what could be the best solution to recover some power to=
 these
>15 hammers : dry ironing, juicing or changing those 15 hammer heads ?
>Kawai says the tone will not be even if I change only a sub set of hammers
>(they don't want to replace either full set of subset anyway...).
>
>Have you experienced changing subset of hammers in this range ?
>Which hammer head brand would you recommend for those Kawai pianos (softer
>than Yamaha...) ?
>Do you think dry ironing would make it ? (actually the recovery level I'm=
=20
>expecting
>is not that big and the felt thickness is small in this range, so this=20
>could work).
>
>Many thanks for your feedbacks,
>Sincerely yours,
>Stephane Hanriat
><mailto:stephane.hanriat@free.fr>stephane.hanriat@free.fr
>
>PS : This being said, the SK3 is an outstanding instrument. Action is close=
 to
>perfection, overall tone is wonderful, rich, not too harsh like Yamaha and=
 the
>softer hammers give you great control and margin in the way you produce=
 louder
>sound.
>
>

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