This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Before the list gets all worked up over the Kawai CX-5H please note it = is a model no longer available in the US. The soundboard grain is vertical because it has a laminated soundboard (none of the presently made Kawai models have this feature). The CX-5H has a full perimeter plate and therefore doesn't require the support of the back post. I will let = Kawai explain why they choose to produce this model but to their credit when = they realized their mistake they moved away from it. Don't throw the baby = out with the bath water! =20 Richard Raskob RPT -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On = Behalf Of Tvak@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 6:44 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Kawai=3Dthe new Lester? 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. =20 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. =20 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. =20 Tom Sivak Chicago PTG Associate=20 ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20/4c/cf/55/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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