A Yamaha C3 is a decent production piano. The Yamaha GH1 is trashy - a real cheapie. Same thing with Kawai. Many of their pianos are real nice production pianos. The CX series verticals are their cheapies. I service a few of them. Better than most Lesters! They are Kawai's low-price-tag offering. Ya gets whats you pays fer. Don't lump all Kawai pianos in with their CX series. Terry Farrell > Tom, > > At 07:43 3/9/2005, you wrote: > >List > > > >Just tuned a Kawai vertical, a CX-5H. I have always thought of Kawai as > >one of the better brands of piano. But the design elements of this piano > >make me wonder if they continue to aspire to quality. > > > >First of all, this piano had a soundboard with the grain orientation > >vertical! I had always read that the best orientation for soundboard > >grain on a vertical was diagonal. Cheap pianos had the grain horizontal > >because it took less wood (lengthwise) to do it this way. I've never > >seen vertical grain orientation before, but I'm guessing it's for the same > >reason, and it ain't because it sounds better this way. The tone of this > >piano? Well, the top two octaves were pretty weak. Not much sustain, not > >much brightness. > > > >There were also no wooden frame support beams in the back. Completely > >open. Again, from what I understand beams bracing the frame are there to > >help tuning stability by stiffening the structure of the piano. Perhaps, > >just a coincidence, but this piano, which was one of three that I tuned in > >the same building, was the only one that needed a pitch raise. Following > >a tuning 6 months ago (by another tuner), this piano was 35 cents flat in > >the center, and nearly 100 cents flat in octave 7. The bass strings were > >generally 15 to 25 cents flat. The other two pianos were within 4 cents > >of A440. > > > >I also noticed that the action had only two brackets attaching it to the > >plate, one on each end. There was a hole in the plate at the tenor break > >where a third bracket could have been attached, but there was nothing on > >the action there. Perhaps this plate is shared by another model in the > >Kawai line that does have a third bracket there. Or maybe they elminated > >the bracket after designing the plate with the hole already there. > > > >So maybe I'm misinformed about some of the above elements of pianos in > >general. If so, I'm sure someone will enlighten me. And that's what this > >list is all about. But from my humble viewpoint, the Kawai CX-5H has > >quite a few corners cut, resulting in a piano that makes me contemplate > >Kawais in general. > > > >Tom Sivak > >Chicago PTG Associate > > > กก My fault, entirely !! > > Just yesterday I was talking up Kawai to some friends. Sure hope I don't > have to retract my words... S&S/Boston want to ring in on this one?? > > > > > > > Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT, MPT, CCT, PFP, ACS, CRS. > Decorah, IA > > - Certified Calibration Technician for Bio-powered Digitally Activated > Lever Action Tone Generation Systems. > - Pianotech Flamesuit Purveyor > - American Curmudgeon Society - Apprentice Member and Founder > > > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
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