Kawai KK Upright problem

[Andrew & Rebeca Anderson]

Yes, well that was why I was kicking myself.  A rushed volunteer job was a 
little too rushed.

Andrew

At 06:42 PM 3/14/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Andrew,
>
>Experience, that is the key to our work.
>
>When I tune a piano, I always do a few major chords, with the pedal
>depressed. That particular problem, would have shown up right away.
>
>Doesn't everyone, try the piano after they tune, checking that the pedals
>work correctly, and adjust them accordingly?  I always took that as being
>part of the tuning.
>
>Regards,
>John M. Ross
>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
>jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Andrew & Rebeca Anderson" <anrebe@zianet.com>
>To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 6:32 PM
>Subject: Kawai KK Upright problem
>
>
> > I've been volunteer tuning a Kawai KK Upright.  (My only volunteer
> > venue.)  I didn't much like it but after a pitch-raise, some voicing up
> > around the tenor break, another tuning several months later; it was
> > starting to come around.  What I didn't like was how short the sustain was
> > around the midrange of the piano.  It was somewhat better than a tuned
> > brick.  I was pondering what voicing methods would bring out sustain.  I
> > didn't think lacquer was what was needed.  It adds attack and that was
> > already OK.
> > Later my wife played it to accompany some vocalists and I listened.  I
> > consoled myself that it was nicely in tune and that my stretch that had
> > seemed a little too aggressive while sitting at the piano sounded great
>out
> > in the hall.  But it still seemed muffled, especially in the low
> > treble.  It would soar and sound great as soon as it was played in the
>high
> > treble.  She came back and told me, "There's something wrong with the
> > damping."  Couldn't be that, the dampers moved when the pedal was pushed
> > and there was sustain, just not enough.  The bass was a little better but
> > not as free as it should be.  Free!  It had one of those practice mute
>felt
> > screens that lowered when the middle pedal was activated.  I had worked on
> > that a bit to make sure it wasn't interfering but the spring had seemed a
> > little weak.  During an intermission while several others were practicing
> > with her I determined to do something about it.  I folded back the lid
> > figuring I could take loop out of the spring and get that nasty felt
> > curtain out of the way.
> > I went up and opened the lid while she was playing.  She gave me that,
> > "There's  something wrong with the piano, do something about it." look.
> >
> > Being an upright it never occurred to me to stand up and try to look
> > between the dampers and the strings while standing an the damper
> > pedal.  ;-)  I watched the felt curtain and the hammers weren't catching
> > it.  Something caught my attention and I looked and noticed that even
>while
> > the damper pedal was activated, the played keys would push the dampers
>back
> > almost twice as far.  More, there was one that was firmly ensconced on its
> > strings even when the damper pedal was down.  They didn't release from the
> > strings evenly, some touched more than others.  None of them completely
> > cleared the strings.  huh?...BINGO!
> >
> > My wife is rather patient with me...I pulled out the knee panel while she
> > was playing and then started turning that wing nut on the trapwork.  The
> > sound opened right up,  It could still use some more voicing but it is a
> > different piano now.  Moral of the story, when things don't sound right it
> > doesn't hurt to waste a little time looking at the dampers.  Next time I
> > have time to volunteer I'll do a little damper regulating too.
> > I've kicked myself a few  times over that one since last night.  What
> > amuses me is that they had this piano for years now and no-one else caught
> > it.  The other regular pianists had been complaining about it too, they
> > told me afterwards.  I had volunteered on the piano because I hated the
>way
> > it sounded.
> >
> > Another piano a some more experience,
> > Andrew
> > Las Cruces, NM
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
>
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