Kissing noise on Kawai grand

[Stéphane Hanriat]

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Hello List,

I'm back with another topic I would like to share with you.

During the process of selecting my Shigeru piano, I played a lot of =
Kawai instruments, and I found a strange noise impacting very few notes, =
but always the same notes : 23, 24 and 25. The noise looks like a =
whistling appearing at the attack, and is very easy to ear when playing =
a non legato trill at pianissimo. This noise is clearly audible on most =
of RX-2, SK2 (1.78 m), RX-3 and SK3 (1.86 m). Very difficult to ear it =
on larger instrument. RX-6 or SK6 (2.12 m) do not have it.  - sorry for =
the metric unit -:)

I had extensive discussions on that with our french MPA who is now an =
expert to determine whether an instrument is having the noise or not. We =
have contacted Kawai in Japan. They replied that this is well known as =
"kissing noise" and that mostly all prestigious brands are facing this =
problem that originates from hammer conditions. Kawai also told us that =
Steinway has extensively studied the topic without identifying the root =
cause ; and when the problem is creating inconvenience at playing, =
Steinway is replacing the hammers...

We made some experiments at the french Kawai show room on some RX, =
without being capable to find a reliable fix. Some pianos were not =
having this kissing noise, but most of them had it in the showroom.

When I play grand pianos in this size range, I always discreetly check =
the stuff... but I've not seen this kissing noise as present as on the =
Kawai. I can tell you I've been cautious when selecting my Shigeru, so =
it took me 2 years to find an SK3 almost free from kissing noise (but =
not completely free).

If some of you have an explanation and/or a fix, I would be very excited =
to learn this (and lot of MPAs too, believe me).

Cheers,
Stephane Hanriat, the french guy who loves the Shigeru's.



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