Kawai UST-5

[Don Mannino]

So many questions!

- SC-3 is something completely different - not really intended for institutional use, as the cabinet isn't all that strong. The scale and action should be OK, I'd think. This is really a furniture style console cabinet.

- ST-3 was the first of the curved-lid studios (no U - only ST-3). I'm glad to hear that some UST-4s exist, as I've never seen one. That makes the sequence more logical.

- The UST-7 is still the tough workhorse, UST-8 is good too, but not as tough a cabinet and doesn't stand up to rolling from room to room as well.



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From: 	David Porritt[SMTP:dporritt@swbell.net]
Sent: 	Sunday, August 09, 1998 2:58 PM
To: 	pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: 	Re: Kawai UST-5

Don (Patty?):

Was the UST-8 the replacement for the SC-3?  The public school district here
has about 15 SC-3s and they are quite light duty machines.  Actually an
unfortunate choice for a school district.  The dealer was trying to be sure he
got the bid.  The UST-7 would have been a much more satisfactory instrument
for this kind of institutional use.

dave

PattyMannino wrote:

> Rob Goodale RPT wrote:
>
> >I was wondering because there are several here at the university. Having
> >worked for a Kawai dealer for some time I have worked on just about
> >every model there ever was. The one model I have never seen, however, is
> >the UST-5. I found it interesting climbing into these things and
> >observing the obvious major improvements that have evolved in later
> >models such as the UST-8. The UST-5s that we have here were all
> >purchased between 1969-1971. Would this have been the begining of
> >production on these? What came before the UST-5, was there a UST-4?
>
> This series started (I believe) with the ST-3. I have never heard of a
> UST-4, but the UST-5 was a widely respected workhourse studio. It was
> changed to the UST-6 at some point, then on to the UST-7, which is still
> being made and is still a very sturdy piano.
>
> The UST-8 is the same scale and action in a lower cost form - simpler
> cabinet, slightly thinner back structure.
>
> Sorry I don't have the years right - no place to look them up, as far as I
> know, unless there are some old product information books from George
> Defebaugh's days in my office somewhere.
>
> Don Mannino RPT



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David M. Porritt, RPT
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas
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