Killer Octave - Warranty Issue?

[Farrell]

Tuned a real beauty this afternoon - 3 year old Kohler & Campbell 4' 6"
grand (or....not so grand as the case may be). I had to take a double-take
at the thing when I first walked in the house - I thought it might be one of
those 2-foot deep fake-grand digital pianos. But NO, I opened the lid and
low and behold, there were a couple hundred strings in there.

I pointed out the prominent false beats in the top two octaves to the owner.
He agreed that was a problem, and plans to contact the dealer regarding a
warranty fix.

Running up and down the keyboard, this piano has a VERY prominent killer
octave area. It is about an octave in size and is centered in the treble
section (second from the top out of four sections). Volume just drops way,
way down. One of the worst examples of a killer octave area that I have
heard. It is really, really prominent. Plucking strings indicates the same
prominent killer octave area.

I have not tried voicing or anything else. But I strongly suspect that there
is nothing that has caused just the dozen or so hammers in that area to go
mush. I strongly suspect this is a soundboard/bridge problem.

The owner is a intermediate piano player at best. He has not said anything
about it to me. This killer octave thing to me is real, but its cause is a
bit fuzzy, because I have never fixed one. What is the consensus here -
should I point it out to the owner and suggest he may want to initiate a
warranty claim (let 'em voice it six times and replace strings, etc. before
you insist on a new soundboard/piano)? It seems extreme to me, but with what
I know now about pianos, and if I had bought the piano, I sure as $#%& would
want it fixed! I know it is a junk piano, but it should at least start out
consistent across the whole keyboard. The tenor/bass break is OK tone-wise -
I would not expect more - it is on a par with other junk like this - maybe
even near the top of the heap! - but a whole dead octave seems way less than
par to me. Is this elusive killer octave a warranty issue?

Waddaya think?

Terry Farrell